


CMSN Volume Three

by crimsonSardonyx



Series: CMSN [3]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe, Amber gets more than six minutes of non-coma screen time, Angst, Cinder and company take team RWBY's place, Cinder attempts morals, Comedy, Great quantities of Grimm are slain, Mercury and Ember enjoy having teammates, Mute Neopolitan, Neo attempts heroism, Neo is Roman's niece, Roleswap, Snark, Together they fight Grimm, White Fang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-21
Updated: 2017-11-13
Packaged: 2018-09-01 07:25:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 54,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8614990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crimsonSardonyx/pseuds/crimsonSardonyx
Summary: The Vytal Festival has arrived. Cinder and her team depart for Atlas to participate in one of the time-honored competitions between kingdoms, accompanied by their friends and fellow classmates. At the same time, their enemies set their plans into motion. It's time Rose, Schnee, Belladonna, and Xiao Long took a more direct hand in matters. Let the games begin.





	1. Volume Three, Chapter One: Welcome To Atlas

Volume Three, Chapter One: Welcome to Atlas

 

            “The following teams,” Ozpin announced, “have been chosen to represent Vale in the Vytal Festival Tournament. Team CFVY, lead by Coco Adel.”

            The auditorium erupted into cheers. CFVY was well-known, inside and outside their year, and they’d always excelled at their missions. Ozpin gave the applause a moment to die down, then continued.

            “Team JNPR, lead by Jaune Arc.”

            This time, the applause was softer – JNPR was still not well-known, but Pyrrha had made quite a name for herself. Cinder and her teammates joined in, congratulating the stunned-looking Jaune. Neo shot Nora a thumbs-up, and then the students were settling again.

            Ozpin looked Cinder dead in the eye and read the third team: “Team CMSN, lead by Cinder Fall.”

            The crowd roared with applause. Cinder grinned and half-rose to her feet in celebration before checking herself. She couldn’t stop herself from smiling until it hurt, though. Ozpin continued reading, but the remaining team names didn’t register. Cinder was fixed on hers. They were going to the Vytal Festival.

            Neo grinned from ear to ear, exchanging looks of beaming excitement with Nora. Mercury sat back in his seat, mouth still open. Emerald chuckled, the noise lost in the crowd. By the time they’d collected themselves, the assembly was over.

 

            “So,” Cinder said, putting an arrow through a trio of advancing holograms, “Atlas.”

            In the next lane over, Emerald fired six slow, methodical shots from her revolver, steadying her aim with both hands. She holstered the empty weapon and drew her second. The teammates stood a step back from the shooting stands, allowing them to converse without the lane dividers in the way. “It’s hard to believe,” she said. “I attended every tournament I could, growing up. Now, I’m going to fight in one.”

            “You’ve been planning to be a Huntress for a while, then?”

            Emerald reloaded her revolvers, letting the clicks and ratchets of her firearms fill the silence. She glanced left and right, checking that the other students in the shooting gallery were focused on their own targets.

            “I admired the fights, of course. There were some amazing students.”

            “…but?” Cinder asked.

            Emerald shook her head. “It’s nothing. I just never thought it’d be me in the arena. I know how to defend myself, but Hunters were so far above me. How could I end up one of them?”

            Cinder put three quick shots through her targets, clearing some space. “What changed, then?”

            Emerald hesitated. Cinder continued. She kept her voice low.

            “I don’t mean to impose, but I am curious. Beacon’s quite an undertaking. With your Semblance, and an unlocked Aura, you could have done quite well for yourself as a thief. Why did you put your life on the line to defend humanity? It doesn’t sound like you’ve received anything to earn that kind of loyalty.”

            Emerald stepped away from her stand. “No, you’re right. Come on, let’s get out of here. You can buy me a coffee or something.”

            Cinder shrugged and fired one last shot through the holographic targets. She slapped the button on her stand to end the program and left the shooting range with Emerald.

           

            It wasn’t uncommon for Hunters to track and fight Grimm for days on end. Less common, but still possible, was for Hunters to be tracked and hunted for long stretches of time, unable to escape or defeat their foes. Sleep was a valuable commodity, all the more so on long, far-off assignments. It was therefore understood that the awful sleep habits that other schools might frown upon were just another part of Huntsman training at Beacon. There were no less than three shops that sold nothing but caffeine products, which constituted everything from coffee to caffeinated sodas to caffeine pills.

            Cinder bought a can of soda, at Emerald’s request, and a cup of tea, for herself. After everything else that happened on their rooftop, they made their way to their dorm and up the stairs without exchanging a word. The midafternoon breeze blew dead leaves off the rooftop as they sat at the edge.

            Emerald took a swallow of her soda. “I started out on the streets,” she began. “That’s as much as I can remember, anyway. I grew up with some other kids. I’d be the distraction, and they’d pocket the mark’s scroll or wallet or whatever. Worked pretty well.”

            The faintest smile flickered across her face. Those weren’t good days, by any means, but there was something simple about them. Carefree, even. It was just Emerald, her friends, and the grid of streets they ran, a tiny pocket of safety and excitement. The wider world was content to leave her be.

            “I grew up,” she continued, “stealing and running and climbing. Some of the other kids got slow or careless. I always managed to stay one step ahead of the police.”

            “You must have been quite skilled,” Cinder commented.

            Emerald shook her head. “It’s not as impressive once you know how I did it. Everything’s easier with Aura.”

            Cinder turned and stared at her. “How in the world did you manage to get your Aura unlocked?”

            At this, Emerald smiled. “I did it myself.”

            Cinder possessed excellent self-control. Her eyes widened for a moment.

            Emerald took another swallow of her soda. “It’s not that impressive. Plenty of people do it.”

            “With focus, time, and training, yes.”

            “I had all that. Thievery was how I stayed alive, back then. Picking a pocket or climbing a wall in utter silence requires a lot of focus. Cracking a safe by hand is even harder. You’re utterly focused on accomplishing your goal, putting everything you have into it. The rest of the world all but ceases to exist.”

            Emerald stared off into space. “Eight years ago, during that really nasty winter? A group of thugs muscled into the building I was living in. I was homeless, freezing cold, and desperate enough to try breaking into a house in the richer part of town. I made it to the study, and found a safe behind a painting, but I just couldn’t manage the lock. My fingers were numb, I could barely even feel the dial. I must have been there for three hours, too stubborn and desperate to leave. I shut the world out and put everything I had into opening that safe.”

            “It worked?”

            “I pulled the front right off. Grabbed whatever I could stuff in my pockets and ran for it.”

            Emerald shook her head. “I’m getting sidetracked, aren’t I? I made a living on the streets with my Aura. Even found a few competent people to work with. We pulled off some nice jobs together.”

            Cinder sipped at her tea. Emerald stared out at Beacon’s landscape for a minute before continuing. “We got cocky. We found a gang trafficking in some expensive contraband. They made a deal, and we made off with their lien.” She shrugged, a short, convulsive gesture. “Stupid, isn’t it? We had a good thing going, and we got greedy. I knew we were taking a risk, and I didn’t stop anything.”

            Cinder opened her mouth to say something reassuring – she hadn’t worked out what yet – but Emerald cut her off. “I made it out. The others died. I tried to go back to small jobs, like robbing jewelers, but something was missing. I tried another big job, breaking into Hei Xiong’s club, but I got sloppy. His enforcers almost killed me. Enough’s enough, right? After that mess, I decided I was getting out of thieving while I still could. I passed Beacon’s entrance exam, and they accepted me no questions asked. Can’t ask for a better deal than that, right?”

            She chuckled. “I can’t say fighting off an assassin was part of the plan. This hasn’t been at all what I expected.”

            “Do you… regret it? Choosing this life?”

            Emerald shook her head. “This is much better than being on the streets. That’s about all I’m asking for.”

            “That seems rather tame, doesn’t it?”

            Emerald looked away. “Ambition’s gotten me into trouble in the past.” She stood. “Thanks for hearing me ramble. It’s nice to have a sympathetic ear.” Emerald stretched, popping her back. “Same goes for you, you know. If there’s anything you need to get off your chest, I’m happy to listen.”

            “I’m secretly a serial killer,” Cinder said. “In between hunts, I track down people society won’t miss and murder them. The bodies are never found.”

            There was silence on the rooftop.

            “That was a joke, Emerald.”

            “Right, right. Keep your secrets, then. I’m going to go pack.”

            Emerald left, leaving Cinder on the rooftop. She sipped at her tea, which had gone cold. Cinder scowled and reheated it. The liquid bubbled and frothed over the sides of her cup.

 

            Just after sunrise, they left for Atlas with perfect weather: clear skies, almost no wind. Cinder and her team shared a Bullhead with Jaune’s team on their way to Vale’s port. Pyrrha settled into her seat and retrieved a book from her single suitcase. She settled into her seat, ready for the long trip ahead.

            It made sense, Mercury reflected. She’d been fighting in tournaments for years. Cross-kingdom travel was part and parcel of that lifestyle. Her teammates, he noted with some amusement, were less used to the idea. Nora was struggling to manage the three bags she’d brought with her, which were sliding across the Bullhead. Beside her, Ren helped corral her luggage, and made no mention of how he’d advised her to bring less things.

            Jaune snored, kept upright by his seat’s harness. Their early morning departure had not been kind to the students who weren’t early risers. Although most of Jaune’s team fell into that category, Mercury’s teammates were not so lucky. Next to him, Emerald stared out the window with listless apathy. Nora’s shenanigans or her internal clock might have prevented her from falling asleep again, but she wasn’t properly awake either.

            Neo had given up completely and stretched out across three seats. She’d fastened parts of the seating harness around herself, keeping her in place, and passed out as soon as they made in onto the Bullhead. Between her and Emerald was Cinder, who appeared to be keeping herself awake more through force of will than anything else. She had her scroll open to – Mercury craned his neck – information on the Vytal Festival Tournament, but she was spending more time blinking then reading the words. Every so often, her head would dip, then she’d jolt upright and re-read a section.

            _The old man was good for something after all,_ Mercury thought, then squashed the notion. The idea left a bad taste in his mouth, but he couldn’t reject it altogether. So much of what he’d learned – how to operate on little-to-no sleep, how to fight, how to survive – he’d learned from Marcus.

            _He didn’t teach me to be a Hunter,_ he reminded himself. _I chose that._ The argument was more hollow than he’d like. How well would he have done on Beacon’s entrance exam if he hadn’t had Marcus’ training? How long would he have survived, before then? When he’d gone for days without food or rest, was it his own voice or Marcus’ that drove him on, preventing him from giving up?

With an irritated sigh, he reached down and popped the exterior “boot” part of his right leg free. The mechanism was in working order, and he couldn’t do much with it on the Bullhead anyway, but it gave him something else to focus on.

Most of the flights in and out of Vale were cargo transports, shipping Atlas Dust and Mistral fashion in and Vale’s crops and cuisine out. The transport that would bring them to Atlas was unmissable amongst the last-generation cargo planes and ships. It was a long, thin design that rather resembled a dart, albeit one large enough to transport two dozen people. The back of the airship broke into a quartet of spines, each one housing an engine. The top of the ship bristled with armament, leaving the bottom free for passengers. The entirety of the ship was painted Atlas white.

            Mercury’s teammates stirred as their Bullhead landed. They grabbed their possessions and filed out of the Bullhead, joining a small crowd of other Beacon students traveling to Atlas for the tournament. Mercury spotted a pair of familiar faces among them. He nudged Cinder.

            “Guess who’s chaperoning us?”

            “What?” Cinder asked. He pointed.

            Walking towards the Atlas transport were Glynda and Amber. Glynda tapped intently at her tablet, and Amber was flipping through an old tome.

            “I didn’t think Goodwitch would leave Beacon,” Mercury continued. “Really, I didn’t think Beacon could survive without her.”

            _Maybe she wanted a vacation,_ Neo suggested.

            “That could be it,” Emerald said. “I know I’d want one. Come on, we should hurry if we’re going to get good seats. This is supposed to be a pretty long flight.”

           

Everyone flocked to the transport’s windows as soon as Atlas’ shores came into view. The continent of Solitas looked just as inhospitable as it had always been described. There were no trees, no beach, no signs of human inhabitation at all. The freezing waters became more and more jammed with ice floes until they passed a critical mass and became a broken, jagged plain of ice. In the distance, a massive mountain range rose up. Cinder squinted, picking out a few black shapes moving in the snow below. As their transport passed overhead, the birds took flight, flapping up towards the ship in a great cloud.

            Cinder caught a glimpse of their white bone beaks and claws before the ship’s defenses snapped to life. With a dull thump, a rocket launched towards the Grimm. The projectiles blasted into the center of the flock before detonating in a blaze of fire. There was no Dust in the projectile, just standard propellant and incendiaries. They proved more than adequate to bring down the flock of tiny Grimm, though. Some of the other students cheered and applauded as the swarm disintegrated into a hundred burning embers.

            The hum of the engines had become so pervasive that no-one paid it any attention. Cinder had tuned them out completely until their nose increased, sending low vibrations throughout the ship. She checked the window and confirmed: They were moving much faster now, making good time for the distant mountain range.

            A Nevermore dropped out of the clouds. This one looked older than the one her team had killed during initiation: Although it had little additional bone plating for protection, its feathers were tipped with red-streaked white. Despite the weight they would add, it flew without difficulty. The Grimm sped towards their transport, eating up the distance with each flap of its wings.

            The leader of team CFVY – Coco, perhaps? – stepped away from the window and exited the cabin, purse in tow. Their pilot must have seen the Nevermore bearing down on them, as the engines increased their speed still further. It wasn’t enough, though: They were in a transport, not a dogfighter. Outrunning a Nevermore was out of the question.

            Someone nudged Cinder. She looked to her side, then down, and saw Neo. Her teammate signed, _Think we should help?_

            Cinder shook her head. “We’re moving too fast, and we don’t have enough firepower. If we tried to fight it, we’d spend all our time trying not to fall off the transport or freeze. We don’t have the range we need to fight it properly, either.”

            Neo nodded. _I was afraid you’d say that. Can’t we do something to help?_

Cinder scowled, suppressing the many replies she wanted to give. _You’re a leader now,_ she reminded herself _. Act like it._

“The pilot’s done this before. All we can do is leave it to the experts.”

            “Fun,” Mercury commented. He began to pace back and forth, bouncing from toe to heel with each step. “Being stuck in a metal box and attacked by Grimm sounds like a great time.”

            “You don’t have any problems fighting them without the box,” Emerald pointed out.

            “On the ground, I’m fighting. Here, I’m just crossing my fingers and hoping the pilot doesn’t crash.”

            Mercury continued to pace, drumming his fingers on his thighs. He was brimming with nervous energy.

            _I can get you out, if it comes to that._

Mercury stopped pacing. “I appreciate that, actually.”

            Everyone turned back to the window to watch the Nevermore close the distance.

           

            Over the next few minutes, both the Nevermore and the mountains grew closer. The transport banked into a steep turn, and Cinder saw that what she at first took to be mountains was in fact a massive ice cliff, rising hundreds of meters higher than the plains of ice they were flying over.

            The Nevermore sprayed razor-tipped feathers at them. The sharp turn avoided the majority of them, but several clipped the side of the transport. Bone shrieked against metal for a heart-stopping moment.

            The transport pulled into a sharp climb and twist, and they were once more headed for the cliff. Their transport’s defenses roared to life, sending searing lasers through the Nevermore’s wings. The attacks did nothing to deter the massive Grimm, though, and as they approached the top of the cliff, it flung itself into a dive. Its aim was perfect – the monster hurtled straight for the transport.

            There was a distant crash, like thunder, and the Nevermore’s chest smashed inwards as though it had been struck with an invisible hammer. The Grimm floundered in the air for a moment, all momentum gone, before another crash sounded. This one took its wing clean off. The Grimm spiraled down to the base of the cliff with an echoing howl.

            They crested the cliff, and Cinder saw the fortifications below. Across the ice cliff, stretching as far as she could see, a line of artillery emplacements, gun turrets, and sturdy fortifications were carved into the ice. Each one bore the Atlas crest. One massive artillery cannon was still smoking, barrel glowing red.

            At her side, Mercury let out a low whistle. “Atlas doesn’t mess around. I’d heard of the Great Ice Wall. This is the first time I’ve seen it.”

            “I guess that’s what a few hundred billion Lien looks like,” Emerald said. “Impressive.”

            _“I want one,”_ Nora said.

            A hologram flickered to life in the center of the cabin. It depicted a tall, brawny man in an Atlas military uniform. His temples were greying, and a thin strip of metal covered his right eyebrow.

            “Hello, students of Vale,” the man began. “My name is General James Ironwood. I am the headmaster of Atlas Academy, and for the duration of your visit, you will be in my care. I’ll greet you in person once you arrive, but for now I’ll simply welcome you to Atlas. I’m sure we will impress you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I RETURN.  
> While I'd like to say that I've spent all of my hiatus being productive and planning out plotlines, character arcs, action sequences, and more, the fact is I've been quite busy with other matters. Furthermore, the American political situation has been occupying more of my attention than I would like.  
> That's enough of that, though! We're here to read RWBY, not to discuss politics, and now we can continue to do so! My hiatus is over, and there will be considerably less waiting before I get the next chapter out to you. This volume has been planned for quite a while, and I'm very excited to get this show on the road and begin revealing what I've got in store. Whether you've just discovered my work, or have been following along from the beginning, I'm glad to have you. Welcome to CMSN.


	2. Volume Three, Chapter Two: (Un)Familiar Faces

Volume Three, Chapter Two: (Un)Familiar Faces

 

            Atlas was both a well-regulated installation and a sprawling, expansive tangle of buildings. The initial layout was functional, with no concessions given to form: Dozens of low, concrete buildings dug into the snow and ice. Many obstacle courses, firing ranges, and aerial defense turrets sat exposed to the elements. Everything else - the majority of the original combat school - was underground. The buildings were packed together, leaving just enough space for trainees to pass through. Atlas’ military was set up adjacent to the Academy, and the two had grown together over the decades. Now, they were more one facility than two. Students passed through Huntsman training and into the Atlesian military without pause.

            The second layer of the city was made up of the research facilities set up around the Huntsman academy. A wide band of empty land separated the packed training grounds from a loose ring of geodesic domes. The domes were self-contained, guarded, shielded facilities. Atlas’ innovations remained concealed from all prying eyes.

            As more and more people flocked to the growing city, the additions became less and less uniform. The city expanded until the Great Ice Wall that provided their southeastern line of defense was just outside the border. The frantic land boom that had come with the end of the Great War put an end to Atlas's rigorous city planning. Some districts were all-residential or all-industrial, but the clean divisions were gone. The exceptions were the polished white Schnee Dust Company buildings. Here, at the heart of their power, they clustered together and reached for the skyline, occupying whole city blocks. Off to one side, with the modern SDC architecture but not a part of it, the Schnee mansion sat poised and pristine.

            The transport landed in the empty space between Atlas Academy and the city of Atlas, kicking up flurries of snow. The ramp opened and disgorged Glynda, Amber, and Vale’s tournament teams into the chill. Emerald wore a thin green jacket, more of a windbreaker than a proper insulator. She shivered in the cold, thin air and zipped her jacket up higher. Cinder was the next off, wearing a knee-length red coat over her typical outfit. She blew into her cupped hands and exhaled a cloud of fog. Snow melted and water pooled in her footsteps.

            Neo descended the ramp, still to all appearances wearing her simple jacket and corset. She extended her umbrella as she stepped out into the falling snow and turned back to watch Mercury. CMSN’s fourth member stumbled down the ramp, moving with uncharacteristic clumsiness. Above the waist, his only concession to the chill was a pair of thin gloves. Below the waist, Mercury had donned thick snow pants, hampering his movement. Making matters worse, he’d attached thick rubber soles to the bottoms of his feet. He’d cut holes to fire through, of course, but he was unused to the extra inch of height they provided.

            Mercury tottered down the ramp. He took Neo’s offered hand for a few steps as he adjusted to the added height. After a few steps, he adapted and rejoined Cinder and Emerald under his own power.

            “Not a fan of the cold?” Cinder asked.

            “Metal gets real cold, real fast.”

            “Say no more.”

            “Students,” Glynda interrupted, “You know your dorm assignments. Your Scrolls will unlock the Academy’s doors for you. I advise you to go to your dorms now, drop off your belongings, and familiarize yourself with the layout of the city. Spend some time at the festival, perhaps, or socialize with other Huntsman teams. Meet at the shuttles” - she gestured to the edge of the Academy, where several shuttles sat – “after breakfast tomorrow. The tournament will begin then.”

            She departed for the Academy. Amber and the various Beacon groups trailed along behind.

 

            “Any idea where we’re staying?” Mercury asked.

            Emerald shifted her bags, freeing one hand, and fumbled out her scroll. “Dorm C, floor two, room five.”

            Neo nodded at one of the buildings. The letter C had been painted across its side some time ago, and the white paint had chipped and flaked away until there was more empty space than paint. Despite this, it was still an unmistakable C. The team made their way around the dorm, passing another, identical wall, and arrived at the entrance. Emerald tapped at her scroll and pressed it to a sensor next to the door. Mechanisms within the door clunked and whirred.

            “Wasn’t this supposed to be built _after_ the Great War?” Cinder asked. She dropped one of her bags and pulled the door open. Warm air rushed out to meet her, making her blink. Cinder and her team entered, kicking the snow off their boots on the doormat. The warmth emanated from a heater in the center of the room, fed by a thin Dust conduit that disappeared into the floor. Dorm C's residents had made an admirable effort to decorate the interior - a multitude of carpets, in all different styles, covered the floor. Two decades of posters wallpapered the common room. Beanbags, chairs, and tables peppered the floor, making navigation to the far doors difficult.

            _This looks a little more lively, at least._

            "A graveyard looks more lively than that exterior," Emerald quipped, but she dropped into a beanbag all the same. "Oh, it's good to get out of the cold."

            "We walked for ten minutes, Emerald."

            "Not all of us cheat with heat powers, ok? The wind cuts right through me."

            Mercury began pushing through the obstacles, making his way to a door on the far wall.

            "Walk a mile in these legs before you start comparing temperature woes." He paused and turned back to Cinder. "You do cheat, though."

            Neo stepped onto the seat of a chair, and from there to its back. She took two quick steps across a tabletop and onto another chair's back, where she balanced for a moment. With a shift of her weight, the chair toppled forward, and she stepped off the chair and onto another table as though she'd rehearsed it. The chair toppled onto a beanbag as she hopped from the table to a chair, then to the floor by the door.

            "The worst part is knowing you could have just blinked past all that," Mercury said. Neo stuck her tongue out at him.

            As she reached for the door, someone on the other side opened it. Neo stepped backwards, out of its arc. The student on the other side glanced up from his Scroll, caught sight of Neo's teammates, and replaced it in a pouch on his pants. He wore light white armor over his upper body. A thin band of metal wrapped around the back of his head, extending over his ears and dipping to below his eyes.

            "Ah - more students here for the tournament? Vale, right? The other schools have shown up already, and you don't look like Mistral or Vacuo students, anyway."

            He ran a hand through his hair, brushing his blonde streak out of the way. "Oh, where are my manners? Cody Beut. I lead team Copper. And you are?"

            Emerald started to say something, but Cinder elbowed her, cutting her off. In response to her questioning look, she just nodded to Neo.

            Neo gave Cody an innocent smile.

            _Neopolitan, with team Crimson. Nice to meet you._

            Cody's smile slipped a few notches.

            "Yes- very good to meet you." He turned to her teammates. "All of you, too."

            Emerald took pity on him. "I'm Emerald. That's Neo, Cinder, and Mercury. Team Crimson."

            "Good - excellent. I look forward to competing with you, but I'm afraid that I've got to go - need to meet up with my team, top up our Dust supply. Oh, and welcome to the dorm. We're hosting quite a few teams for the tournament, actually. Always good to have more, though."

            His Scroll beeped.  
            "Right - got to go. I'll see you around, then."

            With that, he made his way to the exit, weaving though the tables and chairs with the ease of long practice. The door clunked shut behind him.

            "That wasn't nice," Emerald chided Neo.

            She shrugged. _It was funny, though._

"You're not cut out to be a moral center, Emerald," Mercury opined, sprawled across two beanbags. "I saw you eyeing his wallet."

            "Eyeing! _Only_ eyeing! I'm reformed!"

            "He looked ri~ich," Mercury singsonged.

            Cinder stepped between them. "Mercury, stop baiting Emerald."  
            "Are you going to make me sit in the corner?"

            "I'll make you do team bonding exercises."

            _Why do we get punished?_

            "I didn't do anything!"

            " _Children._ " Cinder intoned, folding her arms.

            All four cracked up at once. Mercury toppled off his beanbags, Emerald buried her face in her hands, Neo bent double and wheezed, and Cinder supported herself on a table, trying and failing to muffle her laughter.

            Eventually, they collected themselves.

            "All right," Cinder said, "We need to get our things put away. Emerald, where are we going?"

            "Floor two. I think the stairs are that way."

            "Lead on."

           

            Cinder and her team emerged from dorm C and into a soft snowfall. The light had faded in the time since they'd entered. Cinder scowled.

            "It's four in the afternoon!"

            _Time zones._

"Bah."

            "Doesn't leave us much time to look around, does it?"

            "We'll have plenty of time to check the festival out between our matches."

            _What if we want to watch people beating the stuffing out of each other, and see the Festival?_

"There's plenty of time between everyone's matches. There's only, what, four per day?"

            _I guess. Let's go find dinner - I'm starving._

 

            The next morning, Cinder and her team woke early. After the necessary fumbling with winter gear, they made their way out of the dorm. They joined the sporadic flow of Huntsmen and spectators as they flocked to Amity's shuttles. As contestants, they were fast-tracked to a shuttle, and from there to front-row seats. They settled in as the commentators - a pair of well-dressed people straight out of an Atlas recruitment video - wrapped up their speech. The screens cut to logos of the four kingdoms and inspiring music trumpeted through the speakers.

            "Seems like we were almost late," Mercury whispered to Cinder.

            "If you want to try prying Neo out of bed any earlier, you are welcome to," she replied.

            Conversation came to a halt as the massive screens around the Coliseum flickered back to life. Weiss Schnee, CEO of the Schnee Dust Corporation, stood larger-than life in the center of the screen. The wall in the background looked like it matched Amity. Cinder scanned the arena and found her luxury box without trouble, situated as it was at the top of the Coliseum.

            Cinder refocused her attention on the screens. The person who did Weiss’ makeup – People, more likely, Cinder corrected – had made no effort to conceal the long scar across her left eye. The scar added weight to her gaze as she stared out across the crowd, one hand resting on her rapier. Lines of Dust – red, blue, yellow, and white – wound down the length of her blade before joining together at a large Dust chamber in the guard. The rest of her clothing was as severe as her scar – a heavy white jacket, almost an overcoat, adorned with the Schnee snowflake in blue. Her dress was short and light enough not to confine her, and her only jewelry was two small sapphire earring studs – nothing that could catch and tear.

            In short, she looked very little like the head of the Schnee Dust Company, and very much like the Huntress she had been, before the death of most of her family catapulted her to head of the SDC.

            Weiss motioned for silence, and the applause and murmurs cut off.

            “Thank you all for attending this fortieth Vytal Festival Tournament. I regret that we could not complete our work on Amity Coliseum sooner, and allow the kingdom of Vale to host the festival. Nevertheless, you will all be pleased by the technology the Schnee Dust Company has integrated into the Coliseum. In collaboration with Atlas’ military, we have overhauled Amity’s weapons and defenses to bring it into the modern era. Furthermore, the arena itself has been rebuilt from the ground up to better challenge and train our next generation of defenders.”

            The floor of the Coliseum slid open without a whisper, revealing four distinct biomes – A snow-covered mountain, a placid lake, rolling green hills, and a ruined city. They rose into place around an unchanged center section.

            Weiss gave the spectators a moment to take in the view, then gestured to the arena. On cue, a fierce blizzard blew up around the mountain. The lake drained and swirled away to nothing. The hills shook in a contained earthquake, and the ruins rearranged themselves, shifting into a new pattern.

            The applause for this couldn’t be dismissed – Weiss had no choice but to let it run its course. While she waited, she dismissed the terrain. As the applause died down, the camera zoomed back, capturing most of her box in its view.

            “The Schnee Dust Corporation is always committed to helping the next generation of Huntsmen in any way possible. It is my pleasure to announce a new initiative – to recognize and advance the most promising victors of the Vytal Festival Tournament. Those who excel will receive Schnee Dust Company weapons and gear, so that they may continue to defend the kingdoms to the best of their abilities. This year, we will supply the victors with high-quality, hand-cut SDC Dust crystals and ammunition.”

            At this, one of her bodyguards stepped forward, a heavy SDC case in hand. The camera turned, bringing him to center stage. He opened the case and turned it to the camera, revealing bullets in calibers from handgun to sniper rifle and all the colors of the rainbow. He closed the case again and returned to a ready stance.

            The camera turned back to Weiss, but continued turning, focusing on the other side of the SDC box. A Schnee employee in a labcoat wheeled in a human-sized case covered by a white cloth.

            “The champion will receive special recognition. The Schnee Dust Company pursues and rewards excellence, and this is no exception.”

            With a little flourish, the technician removed the cloth. Inside a thick glass case lay a mannequin in a black bodysuit. A computer console was set into the base of the case, and a thick cable of wires connected it to the suit. At first glance, it didn’t seem like anything special – the material was matte black, and thick enough to turn away the worst of a blow. That would be especially true if it was some new Schnee polymer, but it lacked the reinforcement of any serious armor. It wasn’t built for mobility, either – the suit was snug, far more confining than anything Cinder or her team wore.

            The technician touched the console, and the suit changed. Energy – tightly focused bands of Dust power – wrapped around the suit. Spreading through the suit, conduits of Dust lit up like a nervous system, branching out in ever-finer lines. Within the glowing cocoon, the black outfit shifted and flowed like mercury, pulling away from the joints. Where it remained – the chest, shoulders, the outside of the limbs - it doubled its thickness and acquired a smooth sheen. In moments, the mannequin wore a suit of formidable armored pads. The technician tapped at the console again. This time, the outfit rearranged itself into semi-formal wear –much like what Weiss herself was wearing.

            “It is my pleasure to announce the Schnee Dust Corporation’s latest innovation – the Reactive Heavy Dust Weave.”

            This time, the applause went on for a full minute.

            "Mass-producing this armor is, at present, impossible. For now, this prototype is a promise and a guarantee - the Schnee Dust Company will never stop working to better Remnant. _I_ will continue to devote myself to uplifting all four kingdoms to a better future. Everything we develop - every choice we make - serves that goal first, and all others second. Thank you."

            The screens reset to the commentators. Like the rest of Amity's occupants, they were swept up in the excitement of the presentation. One seemed ready to rise and deliver a standing ovation. The shift of view startled them back to their jobs, and they recovered their professionalism.

            "My goodness, with a prize like that to win, I believe this year's Huntsmen will fight like never before, wouldn't you say?"

            "I couldn't put it better myself." For a moment, she seemed ready to continue, then collected herself.

            "We won't keep the teams waiting any longer, then. Let's see who our first teams will be!"

            On cue, the screens displayed a list of the competing teams. Cinder caught a few names - NDGO, ABRN, CRDL, CPPR - before the names began to spin, faster and faster. Cinder made a conscious effort to breathe normally as the first name slowed again and locked into place. NDGO. A Vacuo team, judging by the backgrounds of their portraits. The second team locked into place. CMSN.

            Neo and Mercury were the first to their feet. Neo offered Cinder a hand, face fixed in what was half cocky grin and half bared teeth. Cinder took Neo's hand and got to her feet, fighting back a similar expression.

            Emerald hesitated to rise. "Am I the only one who was hoping for a longer rest?"

            "No skulking in back alleys. No tricks, no scheming, no ambushes. Just us and them. You're darn right I'm looking forward to this," Cinder replied, offering her hand.

            "Well, when you put it like that."

            Cinder and her team made their way out of the stands and towards the entrance to Amity’s arena. JNPR clapped and cheered as they passed their seats. A particularly enthusiastic Nora shouted something about legs and the breaking thereof. A sign directed them through a side door on the route back to the transports. The door opened into a long corridor which ran beneath the upper stands.

            “So, that suit sure lit a fire under everyone. Way to get the competitive spirit going,” Mercury said.

_Weiss is really trying to clean up the SDC’s look. First the changes to their workforce policies, now free gifts to the winners._

            They exited the corridor into a flight of stairs at the halfway point, in the middle of the seating “wedge” it spanned. Pipes ran down the walls, and Amity’s fresh coat of paint hadn’t extended to these areas, out of the public eye. Signs directed them onward, off the staircase and deeper into the belly of the massive structure.

            “The White Fang don’t seem impressed. Remember that warehouse they attacked, back in Vale?” Emerald asked.

            “Well, something’s got to give,” Cinder said. “If people like Tukson keep leaving the White Fang because it’s become too violent, they’re going to have to acknowledge how the SDC’s changed. No matter how violent their leader is, they can’t lead if their people won’t listen.”

 _I hope you’re right,_ Neo signed. _Are you sure this is the right way?_

            “We’re level with the arena floor now, and about halfway there, horizontally,” Emerald said. “If we kept going down we’d hit the engines, or the generators, or whatever else they keep down here.”

            Mercury whistled.

            “What? You pick up a few things from a life of crime.” Emerald hurried to the next door and pushed it open. The team emerged into a well-lit hallway, wide enough for the four of them to walk side-by-side. In contrast to the rest of Amity’s guts, this room was scrubbed clean and painted white. A bank of lockers ran along one wall, all the way to the heavily reinforced doors at the other end. Next to the doors, a flickering hologram displayed the match information: Team CMSN versus Team NDGO, beginning in five minutes.

            Mercury knelt and began working his extra layers off. Emerald double-checked her revolvers, making sure they were fully loaded. Neo spun her umbrella back and forth, testing its weight, and Cinder brought her bow to full draw and held it there.

            The hologram beeped. Three minutes. Mercury had managed one leg, but the other refused to budge. He detached his prosthetic, removed it from his snow gear, and replaced it. Everyone stowed their winter gear in a convenient locker, and went back to waiting for the timer.

            The hologram beeped again, a triple tone this time. One minute. Emerald spun her revolvers through her fingers, occasionally tossing and catching one. Neo bounced back and forth, ready to dart in any direction. Cinder conjured small flames on her fingertips and let them flicker out.

            The doors unlocked and swung smoothly open, revealing Amity Coliseum’s arena and letting in the roar of the crowd. Team Crimson strode forwards, shoulder-to-shoulder.

            “Ready?” Cinder asked.

            “As I’ll ever be,” Emerald replied.                

            “We’ve handled worse, right?” Mercury said.

_Just don’t get shot this time._

 

            They entered the arena.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I'm back. I realize I've said that before, but I've taken the time to rebuild a buffer of written chapters, which should help going forward. I've got no plans to abandon this, even if life does keep slowing me down. Expect a new chapter next week, anyway. On to the commentary!
> 
> I really have no idea how Cinder’s outfit from Dance Dance Revolution works. She never uses that costume-change ability again, which suggests that it’s specific to her infiltration getup. What’s more, she has to discard her mask instead of transforming it too. However, the effect looks more like the casting she and Glynda do than anything built into the clothes themselves. Of course, CMSN isn’t exactly canon-compliant, so I’ll just explain it this way and be done with it.
> 
> Sharp-eyed readers will recognize Cody as one of the unnamed finalists from the other Volume Three. As far as I could determine, he has neither name nor team in the official canon, but he does now.


	3. Volume Three, Chapter Three: Recognition

Volume Three, Chapter Three: Recognition

 

            Team Crimson stepped out into the arena. Across from them, team Indigo made their way towards the center. Around them, the crowd clapped and cheered. Neo waved and smiled for the crowd, disregarding the stoic stride of her teammates.

            "Got a plan, Boss?" Emerald murmured.

            "Neo, Emerald: harass them and keep them off-balance. Mercury and I will keep their attention. When one of them falters, we bring her down fast."

            Neo nodded. _Sounds good._

"I can't help but notice this plan requires the two of us to keep the attention of four combatants," Mercury said.

            "Relax, Mercury. I'm not going to be maneuvering for a backstab, I'm going to be messing with their heads and shooting at them. You'll be fine."

            Mercury gave a very dramatic sigh. "Fine, you win. Next time, though, I want someone else to be the bait."

            "We'll see." Cinder replied.

            They arrived in the center of the arena. Across the central platform, NDGO faced them down. Cinder vaguely remembered skimming through their file while reading about the tournament entrants. Dew Gayl, a tall, blonde woman carrying an ornate spear, was a Dust mage of some type. Nebula Violette, their leader, carried a heavy crossbow slung over the back of her overcoat. Octavia and Gwen, then, would be their melee combatants. Octavia carried a sword glowing with what was likely fire Dust, but Gwen had no visible weapons. Melee, then?

            Cinder shook herself out of her ruminations as the teams exchanged nods.

            "Don't see many first-year teams in the tournament," Dew commented.

            "Want to see why we made it?" Mercury asked.

            "I'd expect nothing less."

            The screens to Indigo's back lit up and began to spin, cycling through a rainbow of biomes before settling on a brown icon of a crumbling building. Cinder glanced over her shoulder to see their half of the arena selecting a glacier.

            The spokes of the arena floor slid outwards, making room for the environments to rise out of the floor. The ruined city held several crumbling buildings of varying size in the background, but the center was mostly clear, although strewn with rubble. All along the edge of team Crimson's half of the arena, great spikes of ice jutted into the air. The middle ground was packed with large, glowing Dust crystals, weak but volatile.

            "And here I was, hoping that we'd get a break from ice and snow," Mercury commented.

            Cinder contemplated how to best tell Mercury to shut up without actually doing so. Before she could actually say anything, the announcers shouted, "Begin!" and there was no more time for banter.

            Emerald and Neo threw themselves away from the center of the arena, opening up with revolvers and illusions, respectively. Screens of illusions blurred into existence around Cinder and Mercury, concealing them. Octavia drew her jagged sword - her kris, if Cinder remembered right - and slashed outwards, sending a wave of fire rolling forward.

            The first wave of phantoms shattered as the flames struck them, and Mercury barreled through the shards of glittering glass and licking flames, landing in the midst of team Indigo. Dew recoiled, trying to retreat to spear range. Emerald's bullet struck her in the shoulder, spinning her around and opening her up for a coup de grace from Mercury. He rushed forward, then threw himself into a desperate skid, arresting his momentum just ahead of Nebula's blade, which sliced through the space his head would have occupied, had he been a second slower.

            Mercury's greaves through up sparks and grit as he skidded to a stop. As Nebula's strike continued downward, he brought his leg up, blocking her strike with the top of his shin, where his flesh met his metal. He fired the boot, throwing himself into a tight reverse somersault and dodging a roundhouse kick from Gwen by inches.

            Cinder picked her target. She sighted on Gwen and stepped into a shooting stance, one arm coming up and back in a smooth motion, fitting an arrow to her bow. Gwen let the momentum of her attack on Mercury carry her into a spin, rising up onto one toe in a perfect pirouette. Her hands dropped to tap her dress, then rose again. She spun once, coming to a halt with her back to Cinder. An easy target.

            Cinder released the arrow, firing through the distortion of one of Neo's last phantoms. The shot flew true, shattering the mirror to bits. The shards of reflection flew in all directions, almost obscuring the bright metal that flew past Cinder's head, missing by a hairsbreadth.

            Another throwing knife struck her arrow, sending both off-course. Two more flew for her head and chest. Cinder twisted her bow, deflecting them with a jarring clang of metal on metal. Gwen ran on, hands dropping to her sides for an instant to retrieve two more handfuls of blades.

            Emerald emptied one revolver into Dew and threw her firearm out, letting the chain play through her fingers before it lodged in the remains of a two - story house. Emerald ran for the house, firing behind her. She couldn't aim well, but the gunfire should deter any pursuers.

            An Aura-enhanced leap brought her to the second floor. She tightened her grip on the chain and ran up the side of the building, heading for the perch she'd selected. As she reached the lip of the roof, though, a wind picked up, whipping at her hair and making the building creak with strain.

            Emerald tightened her grip on her chain and pumped Aura into it, strengthening the connection to the roof. The wind howled all the louder, pulling her away from the building. She chanced a glance back. Through the swirling dust and debris, Emerald saw Indigo's mage striding forward, spear thrust towards her.

            As her Aura drained and her anchor loosened, Emerald made a decision. She let go of her revolver chain with her right hand, and the wind whipped her away from the building and out of reach of her gun. As she flew backwards, she flung her second revolver away from herself and yelled, "Neo!" straining her voice to be heard over the scream of the winds. As the revolver left her hand, she tapped the trigger, firing the gun through the cylinder of wind wrapped around her.

            A wall of rubble shattered into glinting shards as Neo charged forward, blade in one hand and umbrella in the other. Emerald's revolver shot over her head and Neo blinked straight up, slamming her blade through a link in the chain and into its sheath. Emerald wrapped her end of the chain around her hand and held on for dear life.

            Neo landed already glowing bright pink, trying to keep a grip on her end of the chain. On the other end, Emerald glowed green as her fingers strained to hold on. Neo skidded forward, pulling Emerald out of Dew's tornado and into a tight spin through the air, straight for Dew Gayl.

            Dew reacted fast, bringing the butt of her spear down and planting it in the ground. She braced herself for the impact, ready for Emerald to smash herself into the spear. Emerald had no time to process the threat, and there was nothing she could do. Neo had no time to concentrate and blink away. Instead, she let go of her umbrella.

            Emerald's trajectory straightened again, flinging her past Gayl and towards the center of the arena, where Cinder and Mercury battled Nebula and Octavia. Cinder and Nebula exchanged arrow fire, each trying to outmaneuver the other and get a clear shot at their teammate's opponent. At the center of the battlefield, Octavia drove Mercury back, using the blasts of flame from her sword to restrict his maneuvers. The swordswoman was completely unprepared for Emerald to bash her in the back of her skull with her chain-wrapped fist as she hurtled by.

            Octavia crumpled to the ground. Emerald's momentum carried her further, tumbling to the edge of the ice. A brief green glow played across her skin, and she too lay motionless.

            Neo's umbrella, still stuck through Emerald's chain, came to a halt at the edge of the rubble field. Neo took a step towards it, then threw herself back as Gwen's knives split the air around her. The Huntress slid down a chunk of rubble, more knives flying from her fingertips as she descended. Neo rolled behind a lamppost, scrambling for a weapon.

            In the center of the arena, Cinder and Mercury closed in on Nebula. The swordswoman fought well, deflecting blow after blow, but the two of them pressed her back, step by step. Dew Gayl was running back to her teammate, maneuvering through the debris, but there were too many obstacles. As they reached the edge of the urban zone, Nebula went on the offensive with wild slashes, trying to connect with anything at all. Cinder stepped into Nebula's next backhand strike, bringing her swords up into a two-handed block that would leave her exposed for a finisher from Mercury.

            Instead, Nebula's blade split in two, and each half snapped outwards at the hilt and downwards at the tip, forming a crescent that skidded past the edge of Cinder's crossed blades. Nebula brought the crossbow her weapon formed to bear on Mercury as he kicked out. The two fired as one, knocking Mercury to the ground and sending Nebula stumbling backwards.

            Cinder and Dew dashed past each other, each more intent on bringing down a wounded opponent than protecting their teammate. Cinder snapped her head to one side as Nebula fired again. The bolt whistled past her ear, and then it was all swordwork, blade clashing against blade.

            Nebula fought with short flickering strikes, slowing Cinder's offensive at every turn. Desperate to finish the duel, Cinder sucked in a deep breath and committed to a two-handed slash at Nebula's neck, bringing her blades over her shoulder and down. Nebula stepped forward, bringing her sword up in a casual motion that left Cinder's blades trapped over her head and her sword pointed at Cinder's eye. She smirked as her sword snapped back to its crossbow mode.

            In the moment it took for the weapon to prime and ready, Cinder exhaled a stream of flame into Nebula's face. She recoiled, firing her crossbow into the floor. Cinder slammed her hilts into Nebula's temple as the Huntress stumbled back. Nebula dropped to one knee. She wavered, trying to rise, and Cinder readied herself for another strike. The buzzer sounded her disqualification, and Nebula slumped to the ground, panting for breath. Only then did Cinder allow herself to smirk.

            On the other side of the arena's center, Dew Gayl brought her spear down at Mercury's prone body. He fired his greaves, shooting himself backwards and out onto the ice. She followed, wind gathering at her heels and driving her onwards. Mercury glanced behind himself, twisted onto his side to avoid a Dust crystal, then onto his back again. As Dew ran past the crystal, he fired a blast from his greaves into it. At this distance, it took two shots to detonate the Dust, giving Dew the warning she need to leap out of the way of the worst of the blast.

            Ice exploded outwards from the crystal as the temperature crashed down. The sweat on Mercury's brow froze solid in an instant. Dew was closer still - frost covered her, head to toe. She tugged the edge of her dress free where it had frozen to the ground and continued for Mercury. He pushed himself to his feet, wincing at the cold that bit deep into his joints.

            They clashed, spear to boot, and Mercury went reeling away. On the ice, he could barely control his movement, but Dew's winds stabilized her even as they threw him further off-course. Her spear gave her twice the reach of his boots, and she harried him backwards, spear spinning in great circles.

            Mercury made a snap decision and jumped backwards, Aura launching him high into the air. As he left the ground, Dew directed her winds towards him, but he was moving faster than she could muster a tornado, rising up and back. He fired his greaves over and over, gaining the extra height he needed to clear the icy peaks that bounded the arena and putting Dew on the defensive. As he reached his apex and began to fall, dropping towards disqualification by ring-out, he emptied every shell remaining in his greaves, accelerating him back towards the peak of ice. Mercury hit the peak feet-first and snapped two feet of it clean off, sending it tumbling through the air ahead of him.

            As Dew brought her spear up in a defensive posture, Mercury slammed his feet into the tumbling chunk of ice. A little Aura kept it intact, launching it towards Dew Gayl instead of shattering it outright.

            There was a resounding thunk as the ice connected. As before, Dew had braced her spear against the ground, bringing the point in line with the threat. The block of ice struck the spear dead on and sank into the blade to the grip, burying the head within the ice. Without missing a beat, Dew spun her spear over her head and around, striking Mercury with her improvised warhammer. Mercury went sailing back again, greaves empty of shells to save himself.

            On the other end of the arena, Gwen ran in circles around the lamppost, flinging knives in a constant stream. Every step she took landed on a stable piece of rubble, and she glided across the ground with unerring accuracy. Her target, Neo, struggled to keep the lamppost between her and Gwen, even as her knives began to eat away at the old metal. Every knife exploded into fire, or ice, or something else, weakening the lamppost further.

            As Neo circled the lamppost, she tore one of Gwen's few standard knives out of the post and held it close to her chest. She readied herself for a lunge, gathering energy for a blink.

            Gwen threw another knife. This one glowed deep purple, and she hurled it straight through the lamppost and into Neo's back. Neopolitan reeled backwards, falling away from her cover. Gwen unleashed a storm of flechettes as Neo fell, each one glowing with a different color of Dust.

            A blast of fire intercepted them halfway, cooking off the Dust and detonating them in mid-air. Cinder finished her slide across a mass of rubble and tossed Neo her blade. The shorter woman snatched the weapon out of the air and rose to her feet, knife in one hand and sword in the other.

            Gwen retreated, flinging a stream of normal knives, nothing Cinder could detonate. As she did, Neo blinked into existence behind and above her. She dropped, bringing her stolen knife down into Gwen's shoulder. As she spasmed, Cinder batted the last of Gwen's knives aside with her swords and stepped forward, sweeping her sword low and knocking Gwen off her feet. As Gwen toppled forward, Neo took the opening and slammed her blade into Gwen's back, sending her crashing to the ground.

            As Gwen hit the dirt, she threw two last handfuls of knives out. Each exploded at her opponent's feet, sending them flying backwards. She took the brunt of both explosions: Gwen's Aura was gone before she hit the ground. Neo was blasted backwards and into a wall, bringing a small avalanche of rubble down on her head. Onscreen, her Aura dropped into the red. Cinder fared better, skidding to a halt without colliding with anything else. With one blade and what little Aura she had left, she turned to look for Dew.

            As Mercury flew backwards, helpless in the air, a pressure built behind his eyeballs. Every muscle in his body tensed as a buzzing in his ears built to a deafening roar. His vision narrowed to a single point - Dew Gayl.

            Mercury surged forward, lightning crackling across his form as he shot back onto the ice, slammed into and past Dew, and skidded to a halt halfway across the ice biome. His arms windmilled as he came to a halt, facing his opponent. On the edge of the arena, the strike shattered the ice on Dew's spear and spun her around. She tried to bring her spear into line, but it was trivial to surge back towards her and strike her dead-on.

            Mercury struck her shoulder-first, sending her flying back through the remains of the ice wall. Dew mustered her winds, slowing her flight, cushioning her fall. She probably wouldn't save herself, but there was no sense in taking risks. The power flowed through him again and he blasted forward, accelerating into the air from a standing start and striking her dead-on. The two of them crashed back into the wall of the arena and tumbled to the ground.

            Mercury lifted his head. One last crackle of electricity wound across his arm before grounding itself in the dusty floor of the arena. "Huh", he said, and passed out.

            Cinder lifted her eyes to the screens above the arena. Every other member of both teams lay defeated – Gwen, Emerald, and Mercury had their Auras shattered, while the reserves of all the others lay somewhere in the red. She herself was lower than she would like - heavy use of her Semblance had depleted her reserves. Like the heat blast she'd attempted back at Tukson's Book Trade, fire breath was a taxing use of her abilities.

            The cheering of the crowd registered again, as her perception expanded out past the borders of the arena. She glanced out at the crowd, looking for familiar faces, but the bright lights fixed on the stage blurred everyone together. Cinder lifted her hand to her forehead, wiping away sweat. Emerald was closest.

            The ex-thief groaned as Cinder examined her, probing for broken bones and other injuries. By the time she finished, Emerald was awake. She smiled at Cinder as she started to say something, but broke off into a cough, clearing her throat. She tried again:

            "Did we win?"

            Cinder stared.

            "What were you thinking?"

            "Cinder?"

            "We're not fighting for our lives here. That stunt was completely unnecessary. Your Aura broke!"

            Emerald raised her hands, placating. "Cinder, I was improvising. I saw an opportunity and I took it. All I lost was my Aura."

            "If this was a real fight, you'd be dead."

            "I'd be more careful in a real fight," Emerald said.

            "If I wasn't going to drag you to a checkup, I'd smack you."

            Emerald poked Cinder. "Besides, I trust you to have my back."

            Cinder grimaced. "That'll get you hurt. You shouldn't put yourself in danger like that."

            "If it helps, I was trying to follow your plan. Things got complicated."

            Emerald got to her feet. She stumbled as the battlefield re-docked with the rest of the arena, but kept her feet. "How are the others?"

            "I checked on you first."

            "Oh," Emerald said. She turned towards the urban section of the arena. "Is anyone in there?"

            On cue, Neo blinked over to them. A fine coating of dust covered from head to toe, but she carried her umbrella and Emerald's second revolver.

            "Neo!" Emerald exclaimed. She wrapped her teammate in a hug, ignoring the dust and grime. "Thanks for the assist back there."

            Neo hugged her back, leaving streaks of white and grey on her clothes. She stepped away and handed Emerald her revolver.

            _Sorry about letting go of you, back there_.

            Emerald shook her head. "I'd be angrier if you had held on, honestly," she said, interrupting Cinder's angry exclamation. "Besides, it worked out pretty well."

            Neo gave up trying to pat the dust coating her outfit away. She concentrated, and a glow spread across her body, removing the accumulated grime of battle.

            _Where's Mercury?_

            "Last I saw, he was over there," Cinder said, gesturing towards the ice.

            "Oh, boy," Emerald said, sizing up the shattered chunks of ice strewn across the ground.

            They strode across the ice, giving the mass of ice the Dust crystal created a wide berth. As one, they broke into a run when they saw the medics.

            Dew was already sitting up, waving the white-coated staff away. They converged on Mercury instead, checking vitals with well-trained precision. One of them, a tall, red-haired man, stepped away from the crowd to intercept Cinder and her teammates.

            As they reached him, he raised his hand, forestalling their questions. "Your teammate is going to be fine," he said. "It looks like he just pushed his Aura too far. Give him some rest and plenty of fluids. His Aura will take care of the rest, provided he doesn't keep pushing his Semblance like that."

            "His _Semblance_?" Cinder asked.

            Instead of answering, the medic pointed to an arena screen. On it, Mercury's duel with Dew played, emphasizing the final exchange of blows.

            "Well," Cinder said. "That's new."

            The medic glanced over his shoulder. "Looks like he's coming around. Remember, fluids and rest. Oh, and good fight out there."

            Cinder elbowed her way through the medics as they finished their checkup. Mercury sat on the dusty arena floor, making no move to stand. His hair stood out in a frizzy ball around his head.

            _Mercury, you've been holding out on us!_ Neo joked, taking a seat next to her teammate. T _hat was awesome. You okay_?

            "A bit shook up. I'll be fine," Mercury said, getting to his feet. "That's definitely going to need more practice, though."

            Emerald shrugged. “Hey, it worked, didn't it?”

            "Don't you start," Cinder said. "Can you walk?"

            "Yeah. Don't ask me to go another few rounds with that girl, and I'll be fine."

            "Actually," Cinder began, "I think this merits some celebration."

            "Seriously?" Emerald asked. "You're not going to have us train some more, or maintain our weapons?"

            Cinder shrugged. "We're all exhausted. What would be the point? Besides, safety aside, you all performed very well today. I can recognize that."

            _Ice cream?_

"Ice cream."

            " _Fantastic_."

            As the teammates trudged back into the tunnel that would take them out of Amity Coliseum, another woman sprinted into their path. She was short, about halfway between Emerald and Neo in height. A red cloak billowed from her shoulders, flapping as she ran. Silver rose pins fastened it around her neck. Under the cloak, she wore an armored vest, protecting her midsection while leaving her limbs unhindered.

            "That was an amazing battle!" Ruby cheered, rushing up to Cinder. "You remind me of my team, back in the day!"

            "Ah-"

            "I'm sure you must be tired after all that, but I wanted to drop by and congratulate you on your victory. I usually don't have much time for the Festival, but I'll be sure to follow your matches in future."

            "Thanks, but-"

            "I've got a good feeling about your team. I think you'll go on to do some great things."

            "Who exactly-"

            Ruby glanced over Cinder's shoulder at Mercury, who was trying and failing to discretely lean on Emerald for support.

            "You guys look like you could use some rest. I'll let you go. Good luck with your next match!"

            With that, Ruby turned on her heel and vanished in a blur of rose petals. After a minute, Emerald broke the silence.

            "So, are _all_ the Huntsmen like Port and Oobleck, then?"

            _Hey, Roman's not... entirely... like them._

"Wasn't he the one with the grappling-hook in his-hey!"

            _Lies and slander._

            "Right," Emerald said, drawing the word out.

            "Schnee was a Huntress for a while," Cinder said. "She seems normal enough."

            _There you go._

            "Okay, probably-normal-level-of-crazy Huntress liked our fight," Mercury spoke up. "Can we talk about it after we get the ice cream?"

            Cinder eyed him up and down. "Are you sure you'll stay awake for the ice cream?"

            "Frankly, I'm insulted you have to ask."

            "He knows I'll steal it if he nods off."

            _I'll fight you for it._

            The teammates departed the arena.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 4000 words! I think that's a record. I'm pretty pleased with the action in this one. When I started CMSN, I suspected Mercury's Semblance would be revealed soon, so I decided to leave it ambiguous. That didn't happen, so now I can decree that Mercury didn't know either and introduce it now. I'm having fun designing future!RWBY. One left...


	4. Volume Three, Chapter Four: Sparks And Embers

Volume Three, Chapter Four: Sparks and Embers

 

            The walk out of the arena was slower than the walk in. Despite Mercury's protests and claims to the contrary, his legs were still shaky and unstable. Emerald and Neo were in better condition - they'd walked off their beatings, but they were still moving with more caution than before. Despite this, there was an undeniable air of triumph as they made their way back to the surface. Neo bounced on her heels and toes, spinning her umbrella in her hands or on her finger. Sparks and flickers of current still played across Mercury, only half-deliberate.

            Cinder and her teammates managed the final set of stairs, emerging into the corridor beneath the upper stands. As they approached the door that would return them to the stands and spectators, someone behind them exclaimed, "Neo!"

            Cinder spun around, drawing on her sluggish Aura. Her hand half-rose before she processed the speaker and checked herself. Standing a few meters back was a man in a white overcoat. Red hair hung down from an old bowler hat, falling to cover his ears. A dusting of stubble marked his chin. He walked with a cane, a clean, well-polished instument.

            Neo launched herself away from the group, almost colliding with Cinder. She jumped, hitting Roman in a mid-air tackle and wrapping her arms around him. He spun her around and returned her to the ground, grinning.

            "Good to see you again, kiddo," Roman said. "How've you been?"

            Neo pulled away from her uncle, freeing her hands. _You didn't tell me you'd be here, you jerk!_

            "And miss seeing the look on your face?" Roman laughed. "Not for all the Lien in the world." He looked over her shoulder, examining her team for the first time. "And this must be your team. My name's Roman."

            Cinder shook off her fatigue and stepped forward, extending her hand. "Cinder Fall. This is Emerald, and that's Mercury. It's good to meet you - Neo's told us a lot of good things about you."

            Roman smiled. "Did she, now?"

            He glanced down to Neo, who gazed back up at him. _Only true things._

            He chuckled. "I'm sure. I don't know if you were planning on celebrating-"

            "Ice cream," Mercury said. "Cinder never softens up like this, so we're taking full advantage."

            _Actually, why don't you all go on ahead?_

"Neo?" Emerald asked.

            "You sure, kiddo?"

            _Of course I'm sure. I haven't seen you in months. We should catch up._

Roman smiled. "Sure thing. Unless your team needs you for something?"

            "We should discuss how we're approaching the doubles round," Cinder began. Emerald elbowed her. "That can wait, of course. We can meet back at the dorms in the evening and go over our plans then."

            Neo grinned. _Thanks! I'll see you then._

The two of them turned and left down the other side of the tunnel.

            Mercury watched them go. Once they turned the corner, he turned to Cinder and said, "Softy."

            "Excuse me?"

            "Hey, I'm not complaining. Just stating a fact. You're getting soft in your old age, aren't you?"

            Cinder sighed. "Aren't you supposed to be exhausted? Let's just go get that ice cream."

 

            As contestants in the tournament, Cinder, Emerald and Mercury were entitled to shuttles that the public wasn’t. They dodged the crowds and were back on the ground within minutes. The day was warmer than yesterday, and the sky clearer, but it still seemed unreasonable to find anyone selling ice cream in Atlas. Despite this, Emerald managed to locate a small ice-cream parlor, tucked away on the edge of the fairgrounds.

            Cinder ordered caramel. Emerald took mint, and Mercury bought a bowl of chocolate. They took a corner table, and Mercury wasted no time in slumping across one booth seat, monopolizing it. Cinder and Emerald settled into the other.

            Mercury dug into his ice cream, taking great scoops and scarfing them down.

            “Is that going to be enough for you, or should we buy out the shop?” Emerald asked.

            “If you’re offering…” Mercury said.

            “That fight took a lot out of you, didn’t it,” Cinder said. “Do you think you’ll be able to manage your Semblance in future?”

            Mercury fought back a smile as he continued working his way through the ice cream. “Having a Semblance – it’s weird to think about. I never had much time to try to work it out, growing up. In time, I just lost interest. Figured I was doing fine on my own.”

            He took another bite. “To answer your question, though, I do think I need more practice. My Semblance isn’t good for much if I only get two or three uses before it brings _me_ down, right?”

            “It might help if you learned how to slow down,” Emerald teased. “You just ran into Dew, full-speed, over and over. Use your boots for a change.” She leaned closer. “Seriously, congratulations. You did good out there.”

            “Superspeed’s a fantastic power. You should be able to do a lot with it,” Cinder said.

            “I don’t think that’s quite how my Semblance works, actually,” Mercury replied. “I go faster, but I don’t _think_ any faster, you know? It’s not what I would have expected.”

            “What did you expect?” Emerald asked.

            “Something closer to what Da- Marcus had, I guess,” Mercury said. “He saw weak points. Vulnerabilities. Things like that.”

            “Structural ones?”

            “I always wondered what the limit was. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work on people,” Mercury shrugged. “I’m still here, aren’t I?”

            Emerald grimaced. “You ever wonder what it would be like, growing up with a normal family?” Adjacent to Emerald, Cinder grimaced, like she’d gotten an ice cream headache.   
           Mercury looked down at his bowl. “I can’t picture it, to be honest. Growing up the way I did, sparring and training all the time, that was my normal. I can’t see myself growing up without-“

            Mercury broke off and turned his attention to the door. Nebula Violette stepped through the door and scanned the room. She saw the trio at once and approached them.

            “She’s not here for revenge, right?” Emerald asked.

            “I think most people don’t do that,” Cinder replied.

            Mercury stifled a tremendous yawn and shifted himself into a somewhat upright position.

            The Huntress walked over to their table. “Am I interrupting anything?”

            “Not really,” Cinder said. “What can we do for you?”

“I just wanted to congratulate you on your win. You deserved it – you and your teammates work well together. I hope you’re doing better,” Nebula told Mercury. “Dew said you looked pretty rough, back there.”

            “I’ll be fine,” Mercury said.

            “Good. Go give whoever you fight next hell, okay?”

            “That’s the plan,” Cinder said. “Got any advice for us?”

            Nebula thought for a moment. “Mercury, you surprised Dew with your Semblance, and you surprised me with yours, Cinder. That’s not going to work twice. If you’ve got more tricks up your sleeve, great, but you can be sure your opponents will be ready for what you managed last round.”

            “Have you been in one of these before?” Emerald asked. “How much Dust are our opponents going to be willing to spend to bring us down?”

            “On a normal year, I’d say you don’t have to worry too much. Most teams don’t have the Dust to spare. This year, with the SDC offering all those prizes for the winners, all bets are off.”

            “Everyone expects their opponents will escalate to Dust rounds, so they escalate to remain competitive,” Cinder mused.

            Nebula nodded. “Exactly. Doubles is also supposed to be where they show off the arena upgrades. Long story short, it’s going to be chaos.”  
            “I think we can work with that,” Cinder said. “Thanks for the information. We’ll put it to good use.”  
            “That’s all I wanted to hear,” Nebula said. She turned and left the parlor.

            Mercury stood and stretched. “Well, that was great ice cream, but I think I’m going to head back to the dorm now. Fact is, I’m beat. I’ll work on getting my Semblance under control. Tomorrow.”

            “That’s fine,” Cinder said. “We’re in no rush – there’s days before the doubles rounds start.”

            “Great. Have fun!” Mercury waved over his shoulder as he left the parlor. “You really are being more lenient,” Emerald commented.

            Cinder shrugged. “There’s every possibility he won’t move on to the doubles at all, given how little time he has to train his semblance. Besides, he is exhausted – you saw him drooping over his ice cream. Pushing him won’t do any good.”

            Emerald smiled and turned in her seat to face Cinder. “You know, you can come up with all these logical reasons why you’re deciding to get ice cream instead of training, but I think you could come up with just as many to keep us working hard if you wanted to.”

            “Do you?”

            “Yeah. I think Mercury was right. You are starting to go soft on us.”

            Cinder pushed her half-finished bowl away. “Maybe I am, at that.” She turned to look out the window. “I don’t think any of us expected ending up where we are now. I’ve been trying to do my best as a leader. I know I haven’t always succeeded, but I’ve done what I can to-“

            Emerald cut her off. “We beat Marcus. We’re in the Vytal Festival Tournament, Cinder! You’re a good leader. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

            Cinder turned back to Emerald. “…Thank you.”

            Emerald ate another scoop. The silence stretched out. “Where did you expect to end up when you were younger?” Emerald asked.

            “What?”

            “I figured I’d stay a thief. Mercury had Marcus, and then he had work for Junior and people like him. I guess Neo would’ve stayed with her uncle. What about you?”

            Cinder paused. “It’s like you said to me,” Emerald continued. “You don’t have to tell me, but I am curious. I won’t tell another soul.”

            Cinder smiled. “I appreciate that. You’re right; I have danced around it long enough. I grew up in a tribe. We were a smaller group that moved around a lot, keeping ahead of the Grimm. I got my Aura unlocked young, and I picked up a lot of pointers from anyone willing to teach me.”

            Cinder stared into the distance. “We scavenged what we could from overrun towns and villages. We’d look food stores or medicines that the Grimm hadn’t destroyed and the human’s hadn’t taken. I found an archer at the top of a watchtower. He’d been dead for a while, of course – we wouldn’t explore the town otherwise – but it was clear he’d gone down fighting. That was when I started learning to fight, I think.”

            “How’d you end up here?” Emerald asked, suspecting the answer.

            “The Grimm caught up to us,” Cinder whispered. “We were just unlucky. A medium-sized town was attacked by Grimm. We arrived the next day, looking for supplies. It was risky – we knew it was risky – but we were running low on food and ammunition. The town seemed like the safer bet.”

            “I was poking through a blacksmith’s shop, collecting arrows, when I heard gunfire. It came from all around me, even sections of the town we hadn’t cleared yet.” Cinder shook her head. “Afterwards, I looked up any information about the town I could find. They maintained a tunnel network in case of Grimm attack. There aren’t very many burrowing Grimm in that area of Mistral.”

            “I think some of the villagers made it to the tunnels and survived the attack. They poked their heads out, saw us, and decided we must be bandits. We weren’t expecting trouble, and certainly not from other humans.”

            “I tried to make it back to my family, but I was too slow. The Grimm returned, and everything went mad.” Cinder stared down at the table. “I remember hearing the screams – human and Grimm. They came from behind our group, boxing us in between them and the villagers. By the time I got back, they were gone, and the Grimm were moving on to the surviving villagers.”

            Cinder shook herself, emerging from the memory. “I survived, of course. A Mistral airship picked up the survivors the next day. I stayed quiet, and none of them noticed I wasn’t part of their group. After arriving back in Mistral, I thought about trying to track down other survivors, but I just didn’t have the training to go back out there. So, I decided to get that training. After everything that happened in Mistral’s kingdom, I decided I needed somewhere new. I came to Vale with my clothes, my weapon, and a little Dust. Here I am.”

            “I miss them. I wanted to go after them. I know they – I know _some_ of them had to survive that. I’m just not strong enough to survive out there alone. I –“ Cinder’s voice broke. “Damnit. I didn’t-“

            Emerald leaned over and wrapped her arms around Cinder. They remained there for several minutes, Cinder silently weeping into Emerald’s shoulder.

           

            Roman and Neo emerged into the stands of Amity Coliseum to find them empty. The majority of the spectators had already departed, and the few remaining spectators were being shuttled off in the transports, dozens at a time.

            Instead of joining the crowd, Roman leaned against a wall and patted his pockets for a cigar. He removed it and raised it halfway to his mouth before checking himself and returning it to his pocket. He looked up to see Neo, perched on a railing, raise an eyebrow at him.

            "What?"

            _You can smoke if you want, you know._

Roman shrugged. "It's not that important. How are you doing?"

            _Fine. Great, even. This is good for me. I'm learning so much - and doing good. I like it here._

Roman stared at her for a moment. "Has everything been okay? No-one giving you trouble?"

            Neo scoffed. _He won't be doing it anymore._

He smiled. "Atta girl." Roman schooled himself into seriousness again. "I just don't want you to feel that you have to prove anything to anyone. You don't need to be a, a, a hero."

            Neo cocked her head. _What?_

Roman drew in a breath. "A few days after Junior called me, someone else contacted me. Tukson."

            He shook his head. "I don't know how he managed to find me, but he apologized for everything. Promised he didn't know about what they were planning."

            _And?_

"I asked him why he decided to get in contact now, after all this time. Tukson told me the White Fang was hiring assassins now, and he quit. He also mentioned he never would've survived if some huntsmen hadn't saved his life. I pulled some strings and got a look at the police report."

            Neo hopped off the railing. _I know how-_

                         

"Marcus Black has a reputation. He's killed dozens of people - even Huntsmen. What were you thinking?" Roman snapped, gesturing with his cane.

            _He was going after my teammate! I had to help him!_ Neo stepped forward, matching him as best she could while being almost half a meter shorter.

            "You joined Beacon to learn how to survive, not to risk your life! You could have been killed, Neo!" Roman yelled.

            _What would you have done if it were Junior, Roman? What would you have done if it were me?_

            Roman sucked in a breath. "That's different."

            _It's exactly the same for me._

            “If you keep this up, something’s going to go wrong. You’re going to put yourself in a situation where someone depends on you, or you depend on someone else, and they’ll let you down. Do you know what the fatality rate is for Huntsmen? I thought you only wanted to attend Beacon for the training, not to become a Huntress!”

            _So did I! I didn’t expect this to happen either, but it did. If I abandon them and go back to Vale, what then? Do we keep skirting legality, running small jobs for people willing to pay? Do we unbend our pride and accept Junior’s help? You know how much being a Huntress can pay._

Roman crouched down, putting himself at her eye level. “Neo, you know how this ends. You know what happened to me. All you’re going to do is get yourself hurt or killed for the ungrateful civilians. It’s not worth it.”

            Neo blinked back to the railing she was perched on, re-elevating herself. _Stop treating me like I’m some fragile doll. I’m a Huntress. I helped beat Marcus Black. I can take care of myself._

            Roman stood, rising to Neo’s new height. “Just because you’re good in a fight doesn’t mean you’re ready for this. It’s like gambling – the house always wins. The best you can hope to do is break even, and for every person who does, there’s ten more going bankrupt. Why are you doing this at all? You can drop out, come back to Vale where it’s safe. Let your teammates look after themselves.”

            Neo dropped off the railing and stepped back, composing herself. Her clothing flickered for a moment, revealing the dirt and soot of her last fight.

            _I’m not leaving them. I can’t. Please don’t ask again._

Roman let out a long breath. “Okay, Neo. I’ll be around for the rest of the tournament. You know how to get in touch if you change your mind.”

            Neo nodded. She walked back the way she came, into the tunnel and away from prying eyes. She raised her umbrella and opened it, hiding her head. Roman watched her go. After the door closed behind her, he leaned against the wall and slid to the ground. Roman retrieved his cigar, lit it, and brought it to his mouth. After a minute, he hurled the cigar aside, got to his feet, and stalked towards the exit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that ended in a different place than it started. Sometimes, there's action chapters. Sometimes, there aren't. I discarded a number of ideas about Cinder's backstory before settling on this one in particular. I originally planned to include more events in this chapter, but what I wrote ended up stretching more than I anticipated, and I decided to cut it here.


	5. Volume Three, Chapter Five: Independence

Volume Three, Chapter Five: Independence.

 

            Atlas’s dorms were smaller than Beacon’s. At home, they had enough space for four beds, with room left over. Here, they had two bunk beds and less free space. The room was, therefore, cluttered. Handfuls of pistol bullets and shotgun shells lay scattered across the room’s desk. Textbooks occupied much of the remaining space, with the occasional snack bar lying atop them.

            Emerald and Cinder returned to the dorm about half an hour after Mercury did. Mercury lay back on his bunk, working his way through an energy bar. He propped himself up on his elbows at their approach. “Good ice cream?”

            "Yep," Emerald said. She collapsed into her bed without further elaboration. "Do we need to attend the other matches today?"

            "So long as we don't miss our matches, we should be fine," Cinder said. "They won't get to the semifinals for a few days."

            "Thank goodness," Emerald said. "I need a nap."

            "Time zones getting to you too, huh?" Mercury asked.

            "Shush, you."

            Cinder restocked her supply of arrows and left her teammates to their rest. She exited the dorm and emerged into the bracing cold. Exhaling a cloud of steam, Cinder made her way to another building in the sprawl of Atlas Academy, a training dojo.

 

            The dojo was similar to some of Beacon's in size and design: A large building with a central area leading to many reinforced rooms. The hub contained several vending machines offering a variety of hot beverages and snacks. Each reinforced arena was equipped to test the huntsmen-in-training in some way. Where Beacon used catch-all rooms with holographic targets and opponents, Atlas' were specialized. Cinder scanned the list of rooms from a terminal in the main room - it listed obstacle courses, a shooting gallery, several "scenario" rooms such as search-and-rescue or object acquisition, and a number of combat rooms.

            Cinder scrolled through the list, looking for something interesting. One caught her eye - Heavy Mech Combat, reserved by Neopolitan Torchwick. A tap on the screen brought up specifics - the room was set to challenge two opponents, and had been in use for just a few moments. Cinder found the room's location. The room was locked until Neo finished, but she could observe how Neo and her adoptive uncle worked together.

            Cinder arrived at the viewing deck in short order. The small room, located on the second story, gazed down into several combat arenas through reinforced glass. Information panels, like the one she’d used to locate Neo, were set into the windows. Inside, Neo stood alone against a dozen Grimm androids.

            The droids were painted black and red, with spikes jutting out from armor plates at irregular intervals. Accuracy was not the first priority of the designers, but they were unmistakably Grimm replicas. Cinder took in the scene - Three heavy mechs, evoking the build of an Ursa, or similar well-built Grimm. Their legs were as large as all of Neo together, and ended in massive paws. Seven more were smaller bipeds with long, barbed tails extending out behind for balance. They possessed wicked, sharp talons on their legs and stubby arms, but the real threats were their crushing jaws. Behind the pack waited the final two opponents - One a King Taijitu in miniature, five meters from head to head. The other resembled a gigantic spider. Its eight limbs ended in meter-long blades, and the joints were unarmored. Its central body was a cluster of optics with light armor plating.

            Neo held her umbrella in one hand and her sword in the other. She stood, unmoving, one pace from the back wall. Cinder scanned the room, checking the corners, confirming Roman was absent. She was just finishing her search when the pack lunged for Neo.

            The Velociraptor droids moved as one unit, and their claws gave them fantastic traction on the ground. In a heartbeat, they closed with Neo. The cleanest, least damaged Velociraptor lunged first, jaws opening for her neck.

            The droid crashed through her mirage. Two steps to the left, Neo opened her umbrella, deflecting the leftmost droid into the path of its fellows. With a shriek of metal on metal, the droids crashed into the far wall, balance gone. The two furthest away from Neo managed to keep their footing, but her focus wasn't on them.

            Neo stepped forward, blade flashing in the light as she brought it up to pierce through the skull of one of the downed drones. Without looking, she threw herself into a sideways flip that took her over the charge of one of the Ursa drones, coming to the defense of its weaker brethren. Her blade flickered back into its sheath. The droid skidded to a halt before it could crush the six remaining Velociraptors, but blocked them for a crucial second. Neo turned to the Taijitu drone.

            Two more Ursa barred the way, and Neo dropped into a slide that took her under the claw-swipes of the first one and straight at the second. It raised a paw to crush her. As the construct brought its limb down, Neo grabbed her umbrella with her teeth, reached up, grabbed the paw, and pulled herself up and onto the arm.

            Before the Ursa could register what had happened, Neo was over its shoulder and onto its back. She ran across the armored plates and leapt off, diving for the Taijitu. She held her umbrella in her right hand. The Taijitu snapped its black head around like a bludgeon, trying to swat her out of the air. Neo blinked to the wall, letting the Taijitu strike the Spider. It shuddered and two limbs went limp.

            The black head of the Taijitu snapped towards Neo, but it had already uncoiled itself with its attack a moment ago. The strike was slow - Neo leaned to one side, slipping her blade into its neck as it shot by. Inert, half the Taijitu clanked to the floor, unresponsive.

            The Velociraptor pack and the Ursa drones circled Neo as the Taijitu and Spider retreated to lick their wounds. Neo twirled her weapons and advanced. As before, the least damaged, Alpha Velociraptor lead the charge. Instead of a leap, this time it sprinted past her, letting its barbed tail snap out at her. Neo leaned backwards, windmilling her arms for balance as she bent into a ninety-degree angle. The barbed tail whipped past her nose.

            Neo planted her hands and pushed with one side of her body, throwing herself into a spin just above the ground. The next two tails whipped by above and below her. She struck the ground with her blade, pushing herself back to her feet and deflecting the fourth tail. She stepped to the side and thrust her umbrella into the joint connecting the tail to the body of the fifth. The umbrella opened, ripping the tail free of the body. Neo caught it with the hook at the end of her hilt and threw it into the path of the last drone, tripping it. She dropped to the ground, spearing it through the brain and rolling with it as its momentum carried it over her. As it flew off her blade, she kicked it into two of the five recovering Velociraptors. The three mangled robots stilled.

            The Ursa were next. The first one to reach her smashed its paw through another mirage, sending illusory shards of glass scattering across the ground. It glanced from side to side, seeking its target. Neo rose out of the splits she'd dropped into, exactly below her illusion. Before the Ursa could register Neo was more than a cluster of shards, she struck it across its faceplate. Her blade cut an inch-deep gouge across it, destroying the optics. The remaining two Ursa arrived and Neo jumped up and over the blinded robot, landing close to where she'd begun.

            The blind Ursa lashed out, striking its ally and scoring a deep gash across its arm. It lunged for the target and crushed its skull in its jaws. As the one remaining intact Ursa attacked the traitor, the three remaining Velociraptors ran around, under, and over the battling titans to attack Neo again.

            This time, they circled the Huntress, but did not press the attack. The tailless one wobbled, struggling to maintain its balance, but it dug its claws into the floor and waited. Behind it, the intact Ursa dug its paw into the chest of its blinded adversary and ripped out a tangle of metal and circuits, disabling its opponent.

            Neo twisted her blade, angling it so its reflection caught the ceiling. She jumped for the damaged drone and away from the spider, which remained crouched on the ceiling above her.

            The injured Velociraptor tried to raise a claw to defend itself and lost its balance, toppling over backwards. Neo decapitated it as she darted past, placing herself back at the center of the arena. To one side, the injured Taijitu and surviving Ursa – to the other, two Velociraptors.

            The Spider dropped off the ceiling, its six operational legs shining razor-sharp. Neo sidestepped its drop. The robot kept its balance with four legs, devoting two bladed limbs to the fight. Neo twisted her head and let the first attack slice past her ear. She took a step back and its second strike carved a groove in the ground inches from her toes. She continued retreating, staying just ahead of its attacks. The drone paused for a moment, then shifted to three legs, lashing out at her with the other three.

            Neo brought her umbrella to bear, batting the stabs away from her limbs as she continued to retreat towards the Ursa. The heavy machine reared back onto its hind limbs as its prey approached. Neo hopped back one last time, putting herself within reach of its crushing paws. The machine dropped down, ready to crush her beneath its bulk.

            Neo blinked out of the way and reappeared behind the Spider, planting one heel in its central mass and pushing. The mass of blades, supported by three thin blades, lost its balance and pitched forward, blades waving in all directions. The Ursa landed hard, driving a blade into the underside of its jaw and up into its brain, crushing the Spider in the process. Smashed splinters of blade went clattering across the floor. As an afterthought, Neo tossed her blade into the air, caught it halfway down its length, and threw it like a javelin, skewering the Taijitu through its remaining head.

            Neo turned, spinning her umbrella, and flipped a Velociraptor over her shoulder as it charged her. She kept hold of the drone and slammed it into the ground, smashing it to pieces. As she turned to face the last remaining droid, it struck her in the side, knocking her over a meter through the air and bearing her to the floor in one jarring impact. Her umbrella clattered to the ground, out of reach. The Velociraptor Alpha went straight for her throat, mechanical jaws opening wide and teeth gleaming. Neo caught the jaws as they began to close, pouring Aura into her hands.

            Cinder struck the panel. As long as the simulation was in progress, the room wouldn’t open. There were safeguards, of course – like the Vytal Festival Tournament, the simulation would end if Neo’s Aura dropped too low.

            The Velociraptor thrashed its head from side to side as it clawed at her torso. The robot’s teeth slipped out of Neo’s grip. Before it could go for her throat again, she planted her left hand on its chest, trying to push it back. With her right, she groped for a severed limb of the Spider. The Velociraptor took the easy target and snapped its teeth shut around her wrist. Its jaws snapped shut around illusion as Neo sank her impromptu knife – the top five inches of a Spider limb - into its eye.

            Her opponent screeched and reared back, scrabbling at her with its hindclaws. Neo didn’t let it retreat. She grabbed it by the neck and pulled herself to its chest, where it couldn’t bite. With a jerk, she disabled its left arm with her knife, then stabbed the weapon into its head and neck over and over. After the sixth stab, the robot shuddered and went still.

 _Scenario complete,_ the room announced. _Combat data recorded. Analyze?_

            Neo shook her head.

_Reset?_

            Another shake of the head.

            The door unlocked with a heavy clank. _Have a good day, student._

            Cinder exhaled a long breath and shook herself into motion. She hurried down the observation room stairs as Neo stumbled towards her weapons. By the time Neo stepped out of the arena, Cinder was there waiting for her, holding a cup of hot chocolate.

            Neo blinked in surprise. Cinder was certain both her eyes had been dull brown as she exited the room. Now, they were her typical mismatched brown-pink. “I brought hot chocolate,” Cinder offered. Neo accepted the cup and drank deep.

 _Thanks,_ Neo signed with her free hand.

            They exited the dojo together. Cinder cast around for conversation, coming up with nothing. As they approached the dorm, she bit the bullet. “Is your uncle okay?”

            Neo sighed. _Peachy._

            “Good?”

            Neo stopped. _Cinder, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but can we just, you know, do this later? It’s been a long day._

            “Of course,” Cinder answered without hesitation.

            Neo smiled. _Thanks._

 

            That evening, after dinner, the four teammates sat together in their dorm.

            “We’ve got a few days before the semifinals,” Cinder began. “There’ll be three matches a day, with four the last day of the initial round. That gives us time, but the sooner we determine who we’re sending to the semifinals, the more we can prepare.”

            Emerald cleared her throat. “I guess I should sit this one out.”

            “Emerald?” Cinder asked.

            “I’m not a frontline fighter,” Emerald said. “I’ve probably got the weakest Aura out of anyone here. I’m good at creating openings, but that’s harder when there’s one person to exploit them, and it’ll be harder to slip away with just one person to attract attention. I shouldn’t go to the semifinals.”

            “I’m calling bullshit on that one, Em,” Mercury said. “You tangled with Marcus – you do just fine in a straight-up fight. Besides, there’s half as many people to keep track of you. I think you’d do great out there.”

            Cinder nodded. “You’ve got a vicious swing on you, when you take someone by surprise. Don’t sell yourself short.”

            “Thanks, guys,” Emerald said, smiling.

            “Let’s look at this from our opponent’s perspective,” Cinder said. “We were the first match, so we’re memorable. There are only fifteen teams to keep track of, so we can expect our opponents to have some knowledge of our skillsets.”

            “Who we take to the finals isn’t public information,” Emerald contributed. “They won’t know who we selected until we’re picked for the next round.”

            “Question is, who are they expecting us to pick?” Mercury said.

            “Or, alternatively, who aren’t they?” Cinder added. “Mercury, the spectators saw you pass out from Semblance overuse. If you can learn how to use that more efficiently, before our next match, we could surprise anyone expecting us to bench you.

            Mercury nodded. “I get to go to the semifinals _and_ surprise people expecting me to fire off my Semblance once or twice and pass out? Count me in.”

            “Neo, you’ve been pretty quiet,” Emerald said. “What do you think?”

            Neo looked up. _I agree – Mercury seems like a good call._

            Emerald examined Neo. “Cinder, I think you’d be a good choice as well. You’ve got a lot of versatility – anything your opponents try, you should have a way to counter.”

            Mercury laughed. “Twist her arm!”

            “That’s reasonable,” Cinder said. “Anyone have any other suggestions?”

            No one spoke up.

            “Let’s go with that, then. Emerald, Neo, any information you can find about our opponents would be invaluable,” Cinder said. “Get some sleep, everyone. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”

 

            Team Crimson arrived late to the tournament again. By the time they took their seats, the battle between JNPR and BRNZ was already well underway. They applauded when Nora knocked her opponents away with a single swing of her hammer, ending the match.

            As the crowd clapped and cheered, Cinder leaned over in her seat to speak to Emerald. “Why did you nominate me?” Cinder asked. “I know how much you’re enjoying the tournament. You and Mercury would make a fearsome team.”

            Emerald glanced over her shoulder at Neo, who was focused on the screens replaying the battle. She lowered her voice. “Neo’s not telling us something. I think I’m the best able to coax it out of her.”

            “I’m getting that impression,” Cinder said. “How serious do you think this is?”

            “She’s barely said anything to any of us,” Emerald said, “She tossed and turned for almost an hour last night, and she picked at her breakfast this morning. Something’s up.”

            Cinder nodded. “Good luck.”

 

            In a word, Ironwood’s office was controlled. As an Atlas facility, the room was painted an off-white hue. Where some would rebel and introduce color, Ironwood removed it. His furniture, what there was of it, was black plastic or metal. Everything was sleek, smooth, and minimal, devoid of flourishes and embellishment. One wall was dominated by a screen displaying a national news channel. Other, smaller holographic displays hovered around the edges, displaying live broadcasts or paused recordings of news from across Remnant.

            Where the rest of the room was controlled, Ironwood’s desk was restrained. The papers atop it were sorted and ordered, but the quantity of work present suggested the careful organization was fragile. The window behind it looked out on Atlas and Amity above it.

            Glynda settled into her seat. Amber took the one next to her and sat gingerly. She held her tome close to her chest. Ironwood reached into his desk and produced a remote, which he tapped once. Every display went dark at once. The window darkened to the same shade as the walls. The lights flickered for a moment, and then returned to full brightness. “We can speak freely now,” Ironwood said.

            “Was that a problem before?” Amber asked.

            “I doubt it, but I prefer to be certain. Even simple corporate espionage could become a serious threat if not guarded against. Whenever possible, I prefer to employ those safeguards.”

Ironwood sat forward. He kept himself as polished as the rest of his office. His vest and tie were flawless, his overcoat without stain. The one irregularity, a small metal plate above his right eyebrow, drew Amber’s attention, and she found herself tracking that, not his eyes.

      “We want to speak to Winter,” Glynda said.

      Ironwood arched his eyebrow, and Amber’s eye was drawn back to the plate. “I assume you’re not talking about the Specialist I employ,” he sighed. “Ozpin told me some of it, but not everything. I know you’re the new Fall Maiden, but not the circumstances surrounding that transfer.”

      “The previous Fall was well-established, and made contact infrequently,” Glynda said. “We know very little ourselves. What concerns us is the sharp uptick in Grimm activity Amber found herself dealing with.” She gestured for Amber to continue.

            “I was still getting used to my powers when a migration of Beowolves attacked me. Two days later, it was Nevermores and Taijitu.” She paused for a moment. “I think I fought my first Goliath before the end of the week.”

            “The end of the week after the attacks began?”

            “The end of the week after I got my powers.”

            Ironwood frowned. “What were you doing? Did you make any major displays of power? Create a storm system or lightning storm?”

            “Not until I was fighting for my life! I could barely handle throwing lightning, at first. I didn’t even learn how to do most of that until after Qrow found me and helped me make it back to Beacon.”

            Ironwood turned back to Glynda. “I’m beginning to understand why Ozpin took her in.”

            Glynda nodded. “She shouldn’t be able to identify new Maidens this fast. In the long term, this is a serious problem. In the short term, Amber doesn’t have the luxury of learning as she goes. She needs a mentor.”

            “And the Vytal festival provides an excuse for the two of you to leave Beacon for some time.”

            “Precisely.”

            Amber spoke up, unprompted. “This book – it’s valuable, I know, but I still have so many questions. Half the parts I can read all reference other texts, or techniques, or other information I just don’t have.”

            “The parts you can read?” Ironwood asked.

            “The Fall Maiden who wrote that text lived around five centuries ago,” Glynda explained. “It was intended to help those who came after her, but many of the works that were considered common knowledge then are no longer available. Furthermore, there are several differences in the powers manifested by that Maiden. The tutelage of another Maiden is indispensible here.”

            “If she is able to track Amber, you’re putting the Winter Maiden at risk,” Ironwood noted.

            “The Maidens are always at risk,” Glynda countered. “If Amber can be tracked to Atlas, the Winter maiden can surely be located, with or without Amber’s help.”

            Ironwood nodded, conceding the point. “True.” He sat back in his chair. “The situation has been deteriorating here, as well. There hasn’t been anything as dramatic as what you’ve descried, but the Grimm have been skirmishing with our troops along the Great Ice Wall with increased frequency.”

            He drew a file from the stacks on his desk and passed it to Glynda. She opened it to a thermal photograph of an Ursa-like Grimm with far fewer bone plates. Most of the image was cold, featureless black. The Grimm appeared deep purple-blue, brightening to orange-yellow at the mouth and eyes. Next to it was a thermal photograph of an Ursa. The familiar Grimm never dropped below pale purple, and the head and paws were yellow, brightening to white.

            “Thicker, denser fur than an average Ursa. Increased speed and survivability in Atlas’ cold.” He rubbed his eyes. “We’re collecting information on several additional cold-weather variants of established species, such as the Nevermore and Creep. New Grimm species are popping up as well, such as the Wendigo. The analysts should have something ready for the CCT by the end of the Festival.”

            “I haven’t heard of anything like this in Mistral,” Glynda said.

            Ironwood nodded. “Most of the instability there appears to be related to the White Fang. Vacuo is harder to gauge – they’re not nearly as methodical in recording their Grimm activity. Still, this is secondary.”

            “Oh?”  
            “What all this means is that I haven’t been in contact with the Winter Maiden for weeks. She’s always been independent, and she’s done a good job of protecting the outlying areas my forces cannot, but with the increased Grimm activity, she’s been kept very busy. Usually, I go months without needing to conceal a sighting of her powers. I’ve dealt with two in the past three weeks.”

            “You must have some way to get in contact with her,” Amber said.

            “I carry a second Scroll at all times with her contact information,” Ironwood said. “The issue is that I exert no authority over her. I can ask for a meeting, but I can’t guarantee that she’ll accept.”

            “Are you worried she’ll assume you’re trying to lure her into a trap?” Glynda asked.

            Ironwood scowled. “I’m worried she’ll just turn me down. The Winter Maiden – her name is Rime, by the way – has never been willing to work with me. She handles the outer villages; I handle Atlas and the surrounding environs. Sometimes, I pass on information about a town that has gone silent, or a large pack of Grimm that have been sighted, but nothing more than that. She may turn me down to preserve her independence.”

            “Is this normal?” Amber asked, glancing between Glynda and Ironwood.

            “Every Maiden is different,” Glynda said, “but independence is a valuable trait. Some take this too far.”

            “Rime has been active for over a decade,” Ironwood added. “Habits form. I imagine you’ll have a better chance of convincing her than I would, at least.” He reached into his overcoat with his right, gloved hand, and withdrew an unmarked white scroll. “James Ironwood, Bishop,” he said. The scroll unlocked.

            Ironwood passed Amber the scroll.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter five. Neo demanded a fight scene, and I obliged. As you may have guessed, I wrote that part while listening to Rules of Nature and Horizon: Zero Dawn music, among other things.


	6. Volume Three, Chapter Six: Masks and Reflections

Volume Three, Chapter Six: Masks and Reflections

 

                The airship was an older model, marked and scored with years of service. Despite its advanced age, it handled with an easy grace, winding its way down to a dock on the edge of Atlas. Atlas’ air control never gave it a second thought – traffic was heavy with the Vytal festival, and the craft broadcasted a Mantle identification code. They authorized its approach into Atlas airspace to a private berth and forgot about it.

                The Bullhead swooped in to a warehouse a stone’s throw from the city walls. It flew low over the roof, blowing away the accumulated snow and ice. It landed behind the warehouse at a small re-fueling depot. In its heyday, the Bullhead would have carried volatile material that required constant maintenance, designed to move it from containment to containment as fast as possible. From a certain point of view, this was still the case.

                The doors of the Bullhead hissed open and Blake Belladonna disembarked, the ribbons wound through her clothes rippling in the air. Her long coat flapped in the wind from the engine, hinting at the katana strapped to her back when it shifted the right way. She adjusted her mask, brushing at the snowflakes that clung to her.

                More White Fang soldiers exited the Bullhead, each one hauling a solid metal case the size of a torso. Others emerged from the warehouse, helping their allies with their gear.

                “Get it all inside and secured now,” Blake ordered. “I want the Bullhead ready to take off again in five minutes.”

                The faunus leader strode into the warehouse. The old building had been haphazardly revitalized with modern technology – generators dotted the floor, connected to floodlights and space heaters. The catwalks that ringed the building were shored up with fresh material. Blake stepped around a table piled high with firearms and ammunition. As the Fang re-entered the warehouse, lugging their cargo with them, Blake ascended the steps to the manager’s office, overlooking the work below.

                She opened the door silently and slipped inside. In the office, two Faunus and one Huntress were crowded around a desk, gesturing at a blueprint spread out across the wood. More lighting had been strung up around the edges of the room, and a window in the roof of the office let the light from the rest of the warehouse in.

                “The priority needs to be the upper level of Amity,” the redhaired bull faunus argued. “We’ll face heavy resistance from the spectators. You need me there, Ilia.”

                “My team can handle it, Adam!” Ilia, a chameleon Faunus, snapped. Almost none of her skin was visible, she was so bundled up in winter gear. “You have your assignment, so let me handle mine.”

                “Your team is a bunch of talented amateurs,” he replied. “The spectators will include trained Hunters and Huntresses. You need my help.”

                “You know, Adam, she’s right,” Ruby, the third member said. “This isn’t supposed to be a big brawl. You need to be speedy – bang! Get in and out before anyone knows what’s going on.”

                Adam rounded on Ruby. “If speed was that important, we would have sent you, wouldn’t we?”

                “Hey, I have a job too! This bit is about you and the White Fang. If I do all the work, you don’t get any of the credit.”

                “It sounds to me like you’re making excuses. I still don’t know if you can be trusted, so stay out of this.”

                Ruby puffed up in indignation. Blake took the opportunity to clear her throat. “Is there a problem?”

                All three of them spun to face her. She remained leaning against the wall, where the lights didn’t provide proper illumination. Her profile blended into the background, and Blake noted that Adam and Ruby looked past her for a moment before registering her location. Ilia was more familiar with camouflage than she would ever be, and located her at once.

                “Blake,” Adam said. “I didn’t expect you be back for another hour.”

                “We made good time,” Blake said. “There are another two shipments to go, and then we’ll have everything we need.”

                “Blake!” Ruby chirped and darted around the desk to hug her, ignoring the way the other Fang members tensed. “Did that smuggler give you any trouble? I thought I made it clear that she owed me a _lot_ of favors after I let her go, but you never know if the message sinks in with those types, you know?”

                “Everything went fine, Ruby,” Blake said. “She was eager to work off her debt. I checked the explosives on the flight over. They’re professional, better than we could put together on short notice. They’re everything we need.”

                “Great! Explosives aren’t _really_ my thing, but I’m excited about these. Can’t wait to look them over!”

                “You can’t just-“ Adam started, but Ruby was already gone in a shower of rose petals. He growled. “I’ve asked you time and again to keep that Huntress on a leash! She can’t be trusted – none of them can. What’s it going to take before you understand that?”

                “Watch it, Adam!” Iila spoke up. “You’re out of line.”

                Adam loomed over Ilia. “You want to talk to me about being out of line, little girl?”

                Blake crossed the intervening space in a heartbeat. “That’s enough. Adam, you have work to do.” She grabbed a handful of blueprints off the table and shoved them into his arms. “Take these and study them. Make sure your team knows them backwards and forwards. Then, get to work on the ordinance and make sure you know how to operate it.”

                “Any more busywork… Ma’am?”

                Blake turned away and settled herself in the chair behind the desk. She met his gaze dead on. “Run drills with the soldiers. They all need to be in peak condition, not just your team.”

                They held a gaze for a long minute. Ilia retreated a step, skin shifting to a darker hue. Finally, Adam looked away. “Whatever you say.”

                He strode out the door and closed it hard behind him. Ilia let out a long breath as his footsteps faded away. Blake relaxed in her chair and let her gathered Aura fade. She reached out and selected a file from her desk. Ilia glanced between Blake and the exit, hesitating.

                “Is there something else, Ilia?”

                The chameleon Faunus hesitated. “I don’t want to presume, Ma’am. I know you have everything under control, and I certainly don’t want to sound like Adam.”

                “…But?”

                Ilia stepped closer to the desk and lowered her voice. “I think the Huntress is provoking him.”

                “Go on.”

                “You saw it yourself, just a moment ago. She’s pushing the boundaries, provoking his authority. He pushes back harder and overreaches himself. Sooner or later, they’re going to come to blows.”

                “You think she’s trying to undermine us?”

                Ilia shrugged. “It’s how I would do it. I don’t know if she’s doing it on purpose, but it is happening. The less time those two spend together, the better. If she didn’t have free access to the warehouse-“

                “I know we can trust her,” Blake interrupted. “I realize that it’s hard to adjust to, but Ruby Rose is an ally, and we need to treat her as one. We gain far more than we lose with a contact among the Huntsmen.”

                “…If you say so, Ma’am,” Ilia said. She left the room, hesitating in the doorway before closing the door behind her. Blake sat alone for a moment, staring at the blueprints before her. Finally, she spoke. “I know you’re here, Ruby.”

                “Yeah, but it took you longer that time, didn’t it?” Ruby dropped into the office through the open skylight, landing before Blake’s desk. “I’ve been tweaking the Dust weave, and I really like the results!”

                “I can see I’ll need to have another chat with my guards,” Blake commented, reaching into her desk. “Same as always?”

                “Don’t be too hard on them, Blake. I told them I was going to check the explosives and I zoomed off in that direction. They still don’t understand how fast I can go, when I really want to.” Ruby scooted her chair closer to the desk. “And extra sugar this time, please.”

                “I don’t know how you can stand it,” Blake sighed, placing the coffee maker on a clearer section of desk and powering it on. “That’s more sugar than gets put in a soda.”

                Ruby shrugged. “I need something sweet after dealing with all that bitter. How do you stand working with Adam, and then coming in here and drinking your coffee black?”

                Blake reached under her mask and rubbed at her eyes. “You too, Ruby? I’d like some of my partners to be able to stand each other.”

                “Hey, Ilia’s great! She does the same camouflage thing as my cloak, but even better! She’s still kinda nervous around me, but I promised I wouldn’t scythe her to death, and I think that helped. I just really don’t like Adam, and I know you don’t either. What gives, huh? Why’d you have to bring him here? You could’ve just left him in Vale, and then everything would have been fine!”

                “If I did that,” Blake said, “He would have started undermining me, back in Vale. Plenty of Faunus would listen to him, too. He needs a firm hand, and there’s no one I trust for that except myself.”

                They sat in silence as the coffee maker burbled to itself.

                “You know...” Ruby began. “I know I’m supposed to be setting up by the Ice Wall while you all do your thing, but I _am_ pretty fast. I think I could make sure Adam doesn’t come back from his mission, then go set up.”

                Blake smiled. “I appreciate it. I don’t think this is something you can fix with murder, though. Adam wants what’s best for the White Fang and all faunus, just the same as the rest of us. I disagree with his methods-“

                “And his personality.”

                “-But I can’t justify an assassination. We’re just going to have to work with him.”

                Ruby sighed. “Now you’re starting to sound like my sister. We’re here to make the world a better place. Sometimes that means killing someone, in order to help everyone else.”

                Blake straightened in her chair. “I wouldn’t call your sister a paragon of good decisions. Ruby, Adam isn’t going to usurp me. He’d push for a more violent approach than I’m willing to condone, but he’s not going to stage a revolt. He knows what that would do the White Fang as a whole. You don’t need to worry about me.” Blake withdrew a cup from her coffee maker. “Your drink’s ready.”

                Ruby set it aside. “Don’t do that.”

                “Do what?”  
                “You’re getting all closed-up and stoic again. You’re even trying to get me to defend Yang, instead of talking about this. We’re friends, aren’t we? This isn’t about needing help, this is about having someone to talk to.”

                The Huntress reached out. When Blake didn’t stop her, she removed Blake’s Grimm mask. “How are you doing? This is bigger than anything we’ve done before.”

                Blake smiled. “I’m excited. I think we’re finally making progress.” She sat back in her chair. “I’m afraid. If this goes wrong, I’ll have sent a lot of good people to their deaths.”

                “Hey. We’ve planned this backwards and forwards. We’re not alone, remember? They’ll never see it coming. Everything’s going to go fine.”

                “Thanks, Ruby.” Blake hesitated for a moment, then stepped out and around the desk to pull her into a hug.

                “Anytime.”

               

                Atlas was, on the whole, a kingdom of boring, straight-laced people. That had been Roman’s impression for years, ever since he’d been a Hunter, and it was one that he maintained to this day. The frigid, inhospitable climate drained the exuberance out of its citizens. The first question out of an Atlas citizen’s mouth about anything would be, as likely as not, ‘What’s this good for?’ Admittedly, most of Roman’s experience with Atlas came from the smaller villages that were willing to help move some cargo through their territory, and those smaller communities were insular and survival-focused no matter what continent you were on, but Roman was _moping_ , darn it, and he wasn’t going to let facts get in the way of complaining about the locals.

                He tossed back another shot of liquor – granted, they knew how to make strong booze – and sighed. Roman set the shot glass back down and spun it around on his finger a few times, streaking the moisture on the bottom across the tabletop. The bartender – an older faunus with slit-pupiled eyes – watched him, twiddling with another shot glass as though unsure whether to offer it.

                “Same again,” Roman said.

                “You sure about that, buddy?”

                “I asked, didn’t I?”

                The bartender shrugged. “Just though I’d ask, is all. You don’t look like you’ve got the kind of problem some alcohol can fix.”

                “Maybe not,” Roman conceded. “So, do I get that drink?”

                “If you want a friendly ear,” the bartender began, “I’m a good listener. I can’t say I know for sure, but I’ll bet it’ll help.”

                “Ugh,” Roman said, “Spare me the pity.” He scowled at the surface of the bar for a moment. “No, you know what? You’re right. I’ve got better things to do than stay here and be pitied by – by you.” Roman got to his feet, calling on a little Aura to keep him balanced. He patted his pockets for a moment and withdrew a crumpled twenty-lien bill. “That’ll cover everything.”

                Roman grabbed Melodic Cudgel, his cane and walked to the door. He struck the floor of the bar with his cane with perhaps more force than was necessary. As he stepped out into the cold Vytal Festival grounds, he automatically patted his pockets for a cigar with his free hand. Doing so left him far too distracted to notice the person walking the other way until they collided with each other. The packed snow gave way beneath them and sent them both to the ground. Roman’s cigar slipped out of his fingers and landed in a snowdrift.

                Roman growled in frustration. He pushed himself to his feet, brushing off as much snow as possible. “Watch where you’re going,” he snarled as the other person regained his own footing. Roman pushed his hat out of his eyes and saw Qrow Branwen glaring back at him.

                Roman blinked. “Qrow?”

                “Roman?”

                Roman backed up a step, passing his cane into his right hand. Qrow sniffed the air, smelling the alcohol on Roman. He shifted his weight, testing his balance in the snow, but didn’t ready his weapon. “Didn’t expect to see you here, Torchwick. Should I be worried you’re going to cause another Mistral?” Qrow smirked, cocking one eyebrow.

                Roman stumbled and regained his balance, planting Melodic Cudgel in the snow to steady himself. He shook his head, taking a deep breath. When he met Qrow’s eyes again, he didn’t raise his weapon.

                “Mistral was a long time ago.”

                “Doesn’t seem that long to me,” Qrow said. “You screwed up, and you’re never going to fix this. Hurts, doesn’t it?”

                Roman shook his head, clenching and unclenching his fists. He took a step towards Qrow, shifting to a two-handed grip at the base of Melodic Cudgel. Qrow stood still, watching him with that infuriating smirk. Roman took another step, bringing him halfway to Qrow. He stopped, examining Qrow’s expression and stance. Qrow leaned back and spread his arms, inviting an attack.

                Roman exhaled in one long breath and turned away, resting his weight on his cane. “Go away, Qrow,” he said over his shoulder. He adjusted his hat and walked away.

                Roman made it to the end of the street before Qrow caught up to him. “Roman – wait.”

                Roman walked a little faster, putting a little Aura into his steps to stabilize himself. Qrow hurried along beside him, surefooted even without the benefit of a cane.

                “Wait! What are you – _Stop_ for a minute, will you?”

                Qrow darted under Roman’s arm and into his path. Roman stopped in his tracks, raised Melodic Cudgel, and lowered it again. “I’m not in the mood for a fight, Qrow,” he said. “Get out of my way.”

                “I have never known you to turn down the opportunity to try and push my face in, Roman. What happened?” Qrow asked. “Come on, this is the Vytal Festival Tournament. What’s stopping you from throwing down? For old time’s sake?”

                “This is a real bad time, Qrow,” Roman said. “Just leave.”

                “You went three rounds with me after Mistral,” Qrow said. “What could possibly-“ He cut himself off. “Roman, I’m sorry. I thought you’d appreciate the chance to blow off some steam.”

                Roman chuckled, low and harsh. “Not today.”

                Qrow nodded. “Okay.” For a moment, neither of them spoke. “Want to get drunk?” Qrow offered.

                “Tried it. Didn’t work.”

                “How about a sympathetic ear, then?” At Roman’s expression, he added, “Look, you don’t give a damn what I think about you, so why not, right?”

                Roman opened his mouth and closed it again. “What the hell. Let’s go.”

 

                Qrow led Roman to another bar, a short walk from the first, on the edge of the Festival grounds. The bartender brought them their drinks and left to busy herself on the other end of the bar, giving them some privacy.

                Qrow took a swallow of his drink, nodding in approval. He shifted in his seat, turning to look at Roman. The smuggler swirled the liquid in his own drink, staring into its depths. “I think I screwed up again.” He smiled at Qrow’s expression. “No civilians involved, this time.” He dropped his eyes back down to his drink. “Not even one, apparently.”

                It only took Qrow a moment to connect the dots. “Your kid?”

                Roman smiled. “Neopolitan Torchwick.”

                “One of the kids who got caught up in that Marcus Black thing,” Qrow said. “Yeah, I remember something about that. Sounded like things got a bit messy at the end there. Give that team a decade, and they might be something impressive.”

                “So everyone says,” Roman said.

                Qrow frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

                “How many members of your graduating class are still active, Qrow?” Roman asked, still staring into his beer.

                Qrow’s mouth formed a perfect ‘O’ for a moment. “So that’s what this is about.”

                “Marcus was working for the White Fang. You know how they hold grudges.”

                “Marcus was a human, Roman. They’re not going to crash an airship and kill her, her wife, and her son in retribution.”

                “That’s not the point!” Roman snapped, thumping the table and nearly knocking over his and Qrow’s beers. “I’m supposed to protect her. Beacon was supposed to teach her to defend herself, not teach her to be a hero. Heroes just get themselves killed.”

                Qrow steadied his beer before replying. “Well, Roman, to answer your question, I’d say more than half of my class is still active. Some of the ones who aren’t retired or found other jobs.”

                “How many of those lost a teammate first?” Roman countered. “How many of those pissed off the White Fang?”

                Qrow took a long drink. He stared down at the countertop for a minute, then shook his head and turned to face Roman head-on.

                “Roman, I know you’re afraid. At some point, you’re going to have to accept that there’s nothing more you can do. She’s your daughter, and you want her to be safe and happy, but she wants to have her own life. She’s going to put herself in danger, she’s going to make mistakes, and she’s going to do the wrong thing. You can’t save her from falling in with a bad crowd and making bad decisions.”

                Roman bent inward, bit by bit, as Qrow continued. “The best thing – maybe the only thing – you can do is let her, then be there to bandage her up when she’s done. If you try to stop her, hold her back, you’re just going to hurt both of you all the more when she does break free, and she will. You can’t stop her from choosing her path.”

                Roman shook his head. “There has to be something else I can do.”

                “Bet you anything you already did it,” Qrow said. “She’s your daughter, isn’t she? Look me in the eye and tell me she can’t handle anything and everything life's going to throw at her. Look me in the eyes and tell me she’s not going to be someone great one day.”

                Roman grinned. “Where’d that come from?”

                Qrow turned away and took a slow drink.

                “I had a friend who needed some sense talked into him a while back,” he said. “Oz helped straighten him out. I just gave you the short version – Oz can talk when he wants to.”

                “Lucky friend,” Roman said.

                “You could say that,” Qrow sighed, then polished off his beer.

                Roman pushed his half-finished beer away from him and stood up, retrieving Melodic Cudgel. He straightened his hat and adjusted his scarf. “Thanks for the talk, Qrow.”

                Qrow nodded. “Hey-Roman,” he called, as Roman turned to leave.

                “Yeah?”

                “You ever think you got a pretty raw deal?”

                Roman folded his arms.

                Qrow turned around, facing Roman. “Yeah, stupid question. I’m just thinking – I’ve made some mistakes, too. Not Mistral bad – probably not Mistral bad. Ozpin still believes – Oz still offered me a job. He’d do the same for you, you know. I could put in a good word.”

                Roman paused for a minute. “I don’t see why not, since you’ll be telling him about this anyway.”

                Qrow smiled. “Hey. It’s a living.”

                Roman shook his head. “I told you, being a hero gets you killed. I’m fine the way I am.”

                Qrow’s laughter followed him out. “Aw, you think I’m a hero?”

                Roman stepped out into a light snowfall. He dusted off his shoulders and tossed Melodic Cudgel in the air, testing its weight. Amity Colosseum hovered in the distance. Roman squared his shoulders and set out for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Masks and Reflections, also known as Secondary Characters: The Episode, also known as Subtext: The Episode. Seriously, you should see the first draft. I toned things down. It's nice to move back to something a little lighter. Dark's fine to visit, but I'd rather not live there. (Glances at the notes for the remainder of the Volume) ANYWAY, I'm pretty pleased with how this one came out. It's nice to have a mix of character-focused chapters and more action-y ones.


	7. Volume Three, Chapter Seven: Before A Fall

Volume Three, Chapter Seven: Before a Fall

 

            “Good job in there,” Mercury said. “Working together, coordinating your attacks- I hope we get the chance for a rematch sometime during the tournament.”  
            “Of course we rocked it!” the hammer-wielding Huntress cheered. “Can you believe that one guy actually tried to electrocute me? I mean, come on! It’s actually kind of cute to see them mess up like that.”  
            “We can’t expect our remaining opponents to make the same mistake,” Ren cautioned.  
            “Well, we’ll have to enjoy it while it lasts, won’t we? Or, we could finally start working on a way to charge me up!”  
            “Lightning Dust is one of the more expensive varieties, Nora. If we made any kind of significant investment, we’d have to cut back on our spending everywhere else.” Ren paused for dramatic effect. “Pancakes included.”  
            Cinder leaned over to whisper in Ren’s ear. “You’re good at this.”  
            “I’ve had plenty of practice.”  
            “So the obvious option doesn’t work. When has that ever stopped us before? If we’re fighting in a city, we can knock down a power line and I can charge up with that.”  
            “Most of the time, we fight Grimm in the wilderness,” Mercury pointed out. “Not that knowing how to fight in a city isn’t important,” he conceded.  
            Nora nodded, tapping her chin with a finger. “True… Cinder, can you shoot lightning?”  
            “What?” Cinder asked. “Why would I be able to do that?”  
            “Lightning’s like fire, right? They’re both bright and lightning can set things on fire.”  
            “Lightning is a discharge of electrical energy. Fire is a chemical reaction that releases thermal energy. The two aren’t that similar, fundamentally speaking.”  
            “Boo,” Nora said. “You know, I think one of the CBLT students has a tesla cannon. You could make that look work.”  
  
            A few paces over, the other four teammates chatted.  
            “Having code names for your attacks makes sense! If your opponents don’t know what you’re doing, they can’t counter it.”  
            “Just make sure to fill us all in next time, Jaune.”  
            “We went over everything! How hard is it to remember Flower Power?”  
            “What do you think, Neo?” Emerald asked. “Can we get Cinder to call out codenames? Can we get her to do to in front of an audience?”  
            Neo snorted. A smile played across her lips for a moment, but it vanished as quickly as it came. She returned to scowling at the floor.  
            “You’ve got an ice cream thing, so we can work with that. Mint, that’s easy. Grey. Does anyone even make grey ice cream? What flavor would that be… Elephant?”  
            That got the beginnings of a smile out of Neo.  
            “Blueberry!” Jaune said. “Blueberries can come out grey if you don’t go in and re-dye them. My family used to make our own ice cream in the summer.”  
            “Blueberry it is, then,” Emerald said. “On to Cinder.”  
            “Strawberry?” Pyrrha suggested.  
            “I was thinking melted.”  
            Neo covered her mouth for a moment. When she removed her hand, the corners of her mouth were still twitching. She lifted her hands to sign, then cut herself off mid-gesture. _Excuse me.  
            _The pint-sized Huntress turned and walked into the crowd, vanishing into the crowd of much taller people. Emerald took off after her, leaving a rather confused Jaune and Pyrrha behind. Tracking Neo through the crowd was difficult, but Emerald had trailed marks through flea markets packed shoulder-to-shoulder with people. She caught up with her teammate in a clear area near one of the entrances to Amity’s lower levels.  
            Neo rolled her eyes as Emerald approached. _I know you’re trying to cheer me up,_ she signed. _It’s not working.  
            _Emerald exhaled in relief. “Thank goodness. If I had to be that saccharine for another minute, I would have puked. Can we pretend I said something moving and heartfelt about teammates and loyalty?”  
            Neo snorted. _Sure.  
            _“If whatever’s eating you isn’t something we can help with, then that’s fine. I don’t need details. If it is something we can help with, if you need something stolen or burnt or, uh, kicked, we’re ready to go."  
            Neo smiled. This time, she didn’t make any attempt to suppress it. _Now that’s more like the Emerald I know. Leave the terrible jokes to someone else.  
            _“Hey, the elephant one wasn’t half bad!”  
            Neo turned away from Emerald, shaking her head, when she caught a glimpse of red hair and white coat through the crowd. She stiffened, pulling her umbrella closer to her. Neo stepped to the side, then checked herself and remained where she was.  
            Emerald peered into the crowd. It didn’t take her long to spot Roman.  
            “Do you want me here for this?” she asked.  
            _Yes. No. Yes._ Neo took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. _No. I can do this. You should go reassure Pyrrha and Jaune.  
            _“…Right,” Emerald said. She slipped back into the crowd as Roman approached. As he pushed past the last few people in between them, Neo did her best to school her expression into neutrality. She planted her umbrella in front of her, then moved it out from between them and rested it against the wall. Roman came to a stop a few steps from her, at the edge of the bustling crowd.  
            “I’m sorry, Neo,” Roman said. He offered a weak smile. “I screwed up, back there.”  
            Neo’s expression wavered. She nodded, then shook her hand back and forth.  
            “No maybe about it,” Roman sighed. “Look, whatever happens, I don’t want to lose you. You know how I feel about Huntressing, but I’ll back you if you’re set on this.” He smiled. “I’d do anything to keep you safe. If you feel that way about your teammates, I know there’s nothing that can keep you away from them.”  
            A smile found its way onto Neo’s face and widened into a broad grin. Neo ran to Roman, who scooped her into a hug and held her tight. “Stay safe out there, kiddo, okay? As much as you can.”  
            Emerald slipped Roman’s wallet back into his pocket. She turned and walked back to her teammates, relaxing her Semblance’s grip on Neo and Roman once she was out of their view. By the time she got back, JNPR had moved on. Cinder and Mercury were leaning on the railing overlooking the arena, chatting about something.  
            She joined her teammates and leaned on the railing next to Cinder. “Where’d you and Neo go?” she asked.  
            Neo’s catching up with Roman,” Emerald said. “They’ll be a while.”  
            Cinder turned to look at her. “Does this have something to do with what you were worried about?”  
            “I think it’s resolved,” Emerald said. “We don’t need to worry about it.”  
            “If you say so.”  
            A few minutes later, Neo joined the three of them on the railing. She hopped up to perch atop it, facing away from the arena. She was smiling ear-to-ear.  
            “Good to see you,” Cinder said. “Shall we get to work?”  
  
            The next few days passed in a blur of training. Mercury and Cinder drilled whenever they had a free minute, pushing each other further and further. Mercury set up custom scenarios in the training arenas, drilling until he could rocket through half a dozen targets without ever touching the ground, changing direction as necessary. Cinder, for her part, focused on broad, scything arcs of flame to give Mercury cover.  
            The night before the doubles matches began, they ordered pizza and stayed in. Cinder placed her Scroll atop an empty pizza box and began paging through a file. “I’ve been following the outcomes of the team matches,” she began, “and these are the people we need to be the most concerned about.”  
            “First of all, Pyrrha and Nora are advancing to doubles. Our best bet here is to take Nora down as fast as possible to remove Pyrrha’s support.”  
            “This time, I want to duel Pyrrha,” Mercury said. “I’m still annoyed I missed the chance to spar with her the last time we fought.”  
            “You are more than welcome to handle her,” Cinder said. “Just be careful what you wish for. Moving on, CFVY and CPPR have a great deal of ranged firepower. Copper’s leader has ties to the Schnees, so he has plenty of expensive toys. Close to melee at once and stay there.”  
            “Didn’t we meet him?” Emerald asked.  
            _Cody Beut, I think. The guy we ran into when we arrived.  
            _“Gotcha.”  
            “FNKI and IVRY are more unorthodox. A mix of weapons and tactics. We should try to isolate one member and bring them down fast here, as well.”  
            “Sounds like fun,” Mercury said. “Anyone else we should know about?”  
            “There are others, of course, like JADE, CRDL, and ABRN, but these are the current favorites to win.”  
            “Cool,” Mercury said. “What if things go south?”  
            _What do you mean?  
            _“Suppose I go down,” Mercury continued. “How are you going to handle fighting two-on-one?”  
            Cinder gazed into the distance for a moment. “Exploit the environment as much as possible,” she decided. “Keep my distance and wait for someone to make a mistake.”  
            Mercury nodded. “Good. Keep that in the back of your head. If things do go bad, you won’t have time to strategize. Keep moving, keep alive.”  
            “What’s your plan for a two-on-one fight?” Emerald asked.  
            “Get you to confuse them and hit them when they’re distracted,” Mercury answered without missing a beat. He leaned back, dodging the swat Emerald aimed at him. “Ring-out eliminations are my best bet. I’d do what I could to finish my current opponent before I actually had to fight two people at once.”  
            _How about you make sure it doesn’t come to that,_ Neo suggested.  
            “Of course,” Cinder said. “We’re going to do fine.”  
  
            The next morning, spectators flooded into Amity for the first of the semifinal matches. In the Schnee Box, at the top of the stands, Weiss leaned back in her seat. She retrieved a small pocketwatch, glanced at the time, and closed it again. “Sergeant? You and your men are dismissed."  
            “Ma’am,” he said, already halfway to the door. Anyone that could defeat her would shred a few men in suits, whether or not they carried the latest in Schnee-Atlas weapons technology. As such, she selected her bodyguards for obedience and discretion first and competence second.  
            The opening announcements were as formulaic as ever. As they got underway, Weiss stood and walked to a table laden with assorted delicacies, pressed against one of the sides of the room. She poured herself a glass of water and returned to her seat. Behind her, the door hissed open. Heavy footsteps sank into the carpet as the door closed again. “You’re late, Yang,” Weiss remarked.  
            “Hey, I got held up,” Yang replied. “Come on, you know I wouldn’t miss this. Ruby talks my ear off about the Tournament every year. Of course I’m going to make time to see what the fuss is about.”  
            She sank into a seat to the right of Weiss and adjusted her greatcoat, popping the buttons open and tugging it off her left shoulder. The heavy fabric pooled at her waist.  
            “So! What’s the word? I thought you were sure we were only going to catch two of them, but Ruby told me she thought there might be another one running around.”  
            “My algorithm has confirmed the identities of Winter and Fall – the Winter and Fall maidens,” Weiss corrected herself. “I have a rough location for the other two, but Mistral and Vacuo have an insufficient SDC presence for me to be certain. There’s not enough data to narrow down the prospective-“  
            “Woah there, Weiss. Give me the cliffs notes, ok? I’m not one of your eggheads, remember?”  
            “I’ve identified a candidate, nothing more,” Weiss explained. “If one of the Maidens dies and the power passes on, there are better than even odds she will receive it.”  
            “Ow, one minute,” Yang said. Using her left hand, she reached up to her face and removed her contacts, one at a time. She set the purple lenses down on a clean tray. “That’s better.”  
            Weiss watched her, frowning. “Are you sure you’re all right?”  
            “Relax, Weiss. It just itches sometimes, is all.”  
            Weiss sighed. “I wish you’d take this more seriously. You need regular medical checkups.”  
            In the arena, the combatant roulettes began to spin. A fresh wave of applause rolled through the air.  
            “Hey, it’s starting!” Yang exclaimed. “Who’s fighting who?”  
            “This discussion is not over, Xiao Long,” Weiss sighed. “If something happens to you, Ruby will never forgive me.”  
            The screens locked into place. Team CMSN’s Cinder Fall and Mercury Black, versus team CRDL’s Cardin Winchester and Dove Bronzewing. The crowd cheered.  
            “Are these CRDL guys any good?” Yang asked.  
            The SDC head rolled her eyes, but accepted the change of subject. “Their performance is above average, but nothing remarkable. Given the number of minor infractions and complaints on their record, I suspect Ozpin sent them here to sand off their rough edges. Either that, or he wanted them out of his hair for a while.”  
            Yang whistled. “Anyone ever tell you you’re pretty good at that?”  
            “It’s what I’m here for,” Weiss waved off the compliment. “Besides, this barely qualifies as deduction.”  
            “Whatever you say,” Yang said, shucking off the other arm of her overcoat. She flexed her right arm, massaging the connection between her shoulder and torso. “That’s better. All this heavy winter gear cooks me alive, these days.”  
            “What do you mean?” Weiss asked.  
            Yang shrugged, exaggerating the motion. “I’m just hotter now. Hey, I’m being serious! Here, feel my forehead. This is normal for me.”  
            Weiss did so. She flinched away from her first contact with Yang’s forehead, then pressed her palm flat against Yang’s skin. “If you were anyone else, I’d say you were running a fever.”  
            “If anything, my appetite’s increased. I’m not tired, either. I’m not sick, Weiss. Stop worrying.”  
            “If you were running a fever, I could treat you. You are not reassuring me.”  
            Another round of cheers marked the environment selection. On CMSN’s side of the arena, volcanic rock sat adjacent to a thick forest. On CRDL’s, a deep lake bordered thick grassland.  
            “We have this argument every time we meet, Weiss,” Yang said. “I’m stable. Let’s leave it at that."  
            Weiss shook her head, but made no further comment.  
  
            Mercury Black surged into Cardin Winchester, knocking him back into the tall grass. The mace-wielder kept his balance and skidded to a halt without breaking his stance. He swung his mace at Mercury, but he was already gone, flashing back across the arena to cannonball into Dove. The sword-wielder was already in motion and rolled out of the way of the worst of the strike, but it still dropped his Aura into the yellow.  
  
            Yang leaned forward, squinting at the action. “Why couldn’t you get a VIP seat next to the arena like everyone else? I get this looks cool, but I can barely see what’s happening down there.”  
            “Allow me,” Weiss said. She held up her hands, forming a box with her thumbs and forefingers and aiming it at the battling Huntsmen in the arena. A screen flickered to life in the glass window of the Schnee spectator box, displaying a magnified view of the arena.  
  
            Cinder advanced on Cardin, firing arrow after arrow at the bulky Hunter as he emerged from the grass into the central section of the arena. The majority of her arrows deflected off his armor, doing minimal damage, but Cinder kept him on the defensive with occasional Dust-augmented arrows that froze to his armor or glowed with heat.  
            Cardin deflected one such Dust arrow with his mace. The arrowhead froze to his weapon and ice spread outwards from the impact, forming a thick layer in moments. Cardin slammed his mace into the ground, shattering the ice, and Cinder took the reprieve to open fire on Dove, driving him away from Mercury. Cardin’s partner slid under one of Mercury’s kicks, and he and Cardin charged Cinder side by side. She retreated into the lava biome, firing as she did.  
  
            “You said you talked with Ruby. Did she say anything about the plan?”  
            Yang shrugged. “She said she and Blake had everything set up on their end. Something about a lieutenant being difficult, but Blake has things under control. How about you? Any last-minute problems?”  
            Weiss scoffed. “I’ve been ready since the Amity upgrades were completed.” She made a complicated gesture and the holographic screen responded, overlaying the battle between CMSN and CRDL with a scrolling list of names. “These are the major Huntsmen in the immediate area. These are the ones with Amity Colosseum tickets. I don’t foresee any major problems clearing the stands.”  
  
            In the arena below, Dove emptied the clip of his gunblade at Cinder, forcing her to dodge out of the way. Geysers of fire erupted around her, and she twisted to avoid one that erupted next to her, singing her right sleeve. Cardin took the opening and charged forward, covering the distance between them in moments.  
            Mercury surged through a flame geyser and struck Cardin in the side, sending him stumbling off-course. Cinder sidestepped his attack and sent an arrow at Dove, knocking a fresh clip of ammunition out of his hand. She split her bow into paired swords and closed in on Dove, leaving Mercury to handle Cardin.  
  
            Yang whistled. “Kid’s got some moves. Why’d you set this fight up?”  
            “Cinder Fall and her team are unknown quantities. None of them have attended tournaments or other academies before Beacon, yet Ruby reports they were able to defeat a trained assassin with Amber’s help. To hear her tell it, it sounds like they did most of the work. I need more data before I can determine their viability as candidates.” She indicated Cardin’s team. “CRDL uses simple weapons and tactics with minimal Dust use. They made for a good baseline.”  
  
            Across the arena, Cinder and Dove dueled. Cinder forced Dove back step after step, driving him into the lake biome, but she was unable to land a decisive blow. Her opponent was too quick and agile to suffer more than a scratch. He seemed content to continue defending and let her wear herself out, so she remained on the offensive, probing for a crack in his defenses. With a gurgle, the lake’s water level began to fall. Seizing the opportunity, Dove planted his feet and swung his sword, knocking Cinder off-balance and into the draining lakebed. The fresh mud made her footing unstable, and she continued to retreat as Dove went on the offensive, forcing her towards the receding waterline.  
  
            “Gotta say, I like what you’ve done with the environments,” Yang said. “We never had anything this dynamic.”  
            “It’s amazing what you can achieve with enough technology and Dust,” Weiss replied. “Developing these transitory environments brought several advances and patents to the SDC."  
            “How much Dust did it take to make these upgrades, anyway?” Yang asked. “Are we talking nine-digit sums? Twelve digits?”  
            “Enough,” Weiss said. “More than enough, if I’m being honest, but I left a margin for error.”  
  
            With a roar of water, the lake began to refill. In moments, Cinder and Dove were ankle-deep in water. Dove continued to press the attack, sloshing forward to capitalize on Cinder’s slowness. Unable to maneuver, Cinder held her ground and met the attack blow-for-blow. As the water sloshed up to her thighs, she fired a quick volley of fire blasts at Dove. He raised his arm to block the flames. The soaked cloth absorbed the fire with minimal need for Aura.  
            Cardin regained his footing and began to circle Mercury, holding his massive mace in a loose grip. “Think you can keep up this time?” he asked. Mercury rolled his eyes and advanced, stepping across the unstable ground. CRDL’s leader held his position, letting Mercury make the first move.  
            The opponents sized one another up for a moment, then Mercury struck. He stepped forward, pivoting into a roundhouse kick to Cardin’s chest. Cardin took the blow on his Aura without flinching. Mercury fired a blast directly into his armor, knocking his Aura into dangerous levels, but Cardin took the opening to strike Mercury in the stomach with a two-handed blow. The force knocked Mercury to the ground.  
            “You don’t learn, do you?” Cardin asked, aiming a blow at Mercury’s shins.  
            Mercury blasted himself a dozen feet straight up, grazing Cardin’s breastplate. As he reached the apex of his launch, he righted himself and dropped back towards Cardin, slamming his heel down as Cardin looked up. The blow flattened Cardin.  
  
            As the water reached Cinder’s waist, she gathered her Aura and fired a stream of fire, not at Dove, but at the water between them. With a tremendous hiss, the air filled with steam, blinding her opponent. Dove covered his eyes and lashed out, striking nothing but air. Before he could recover, Cinder was on him, wrapping her bowstring around his neck and forcing him down. He rallied, keeping his head above water, flaring Aura to protect his windpipe, and twisted his gunblade to fire at her. The gun fired once and clicked empty.  
            The water rose to mid-chest, hindering Dove's strikes. He continued to thrash, to no effect. As the water reached his neck, his Aura dropped into the red and Cinder released him.  
  
            When Dove’s buzzer sounded, Cardin surged to his feet, swinging wildly at Mercury. He retreated, remaining ahead of Cardin’s frenzied attacks. Disregarding all defense, Cardin charged Mercury, readying his mace for a knockout blow. As he drew closer, Mercury concentrated for a minute, then shot forward, flying just over Cardin’s head. He reversed direction as he passed Cardin and slammed into him from behind, knocking him off his feet.  
            Cardin skidded to a halt at the edge of the arena. He got to his feet, leaning heavily on his mace. CRDL’s leader turned around and sucked in an involuntary breath. All around him were clusters of fire Dust crystals.  
            “Think you can keep up this time?” Mercury asked, and fired once.  
  
            Yang stood up to leave. “Well, that was fun, but I’ve got to get back out there.” She recovered her contacts and replaced them with practiced motions of her left hand. She tugged her overcoat over her right arm, then wormed her left into the remaining sleeve. As Yang adjusted her coat, she leaned backwards. Her shoulderblades met a smooth, cool surface. She turned around and saw the Schnee Reactive Dust Weave armor, secure in its display case. The boxes of Dust sat arranged on a nearby table.  
            “Hey, I nearly forgot about this thing! Do you think you could-“  
            “No.”  
            “I didn’t even finish asking!”  
            “I know what you were going to ask, and the answer is no. That’s an extremely expensive prototype, and I cannot arrange for it to ‘fall off the back of a truck.’ Do you know how much money went into its research and development?”  
            “Fiiiine,” Yang sighed, tucking her hands into her pockets. “Just make sure you don’t forget to take it with you.”  
“Don’t worry,” Weiss said. “I’ve got everything under control.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cinder is not a firebender. Not here, anyway-I’m sure someone’s done a RWBY/Avatar crossover where she is. She reminds me a lot of Azula. I digress, though – we’ve hit the halfway point for Volume Three! I’m very excited to put the next chapter together – I’ve been looking forward to it for a while. See you then!  
> Edit: Something went wrong with the formatting when this was posted. I think I've got everything fixed now, though.


	8. Volume Three, Chapter Eight: Setup

Volume Three, Chapter Eight: Setup

 

            Cinder worked at her scroll and pulled up the finalists. “Pyrrha and myself, of course. Someone from Vacuo named Sun, of SSSN. Cody Beut, of CPPR, from Atlas. IVRY, an independent from a small Vale village, unaffiliated with any of the combat schools – unusual, that. Two from Mistral – looks like an upper-class and a lower-class contender. Vallon Burgundy and Badroul Lambent. Someone else from Vacuo. Scarlett –“

            Emerald tapped Cinder on her shoulder. She started, fumbling her scroll and almost dropping it. "Cinder. Take a break."

            "I need to go over-"

            Emerald crouched down, putting herself at Cinder’s eye level. "We've gone over everything. Twice. You know everything available about the weapons and tactics of your opponents. There's nothing you can do that you haven't already. Take a breath, put down the scroll, and relax."

            "I could run another session in one of Atlas' simulation arenas," Cinder protested.

            "You'll just tire yourself out. By the time you finish the simulation, it'll be evening. Let yourself recover. Replenish your Aura. You've been pushing yourself hard lately."

            "We're talking about the Vytal Festival Tournament. If I can win -"

            "You're a finalist, Cinder. In your first year at Beacon. This is already huge. You're guaranteed a share of the SDC Dust supplies that go to the winners. Step back and take some time off before the finals, okay?"

            Cinder sighed. "All right. I can take a break."

            “Even if you did find something critical about your opponents you missed up until now, the odds of –“ Emerald continued, then cut herself off. “Wait, really? I had a whole argument ready to go.”

            “To be honest, I think I was half-convinced already,” Cinder said, deactivating her Scroll and reaching up to rub at her eyes. “I’m barely reading the files I put together at this point, just paging through them. I needed someone to tell me to take a break.”

            “Well,” Emerald started. “Boy, is my face red. I thought I’d need to be a lot more convincing.”

            “Oh?”

            “I… may have called in some backup,” Emerald admitted. “Mercury wasn’t being any help, the great useless lump. He’s been even more insufferable than usual since he discovered his Semblance. Anyway, he thought pulling an all-nighter, studying and training, right before the end of the tournament sounded like a great idea, so he was no help.”

            “Neo, then?”

            “Not quite. All the teams from Beacon are getting together for dinner. Finalists don’t usually hang out much, but we know them, and I don’t think they’ve got a duplicitous bone in their bodies.” She paused. “Well, Ren might, but I don’t think he’s trying to sabotage us.”

            “How about you?” Cinder asked. “Planning to undermine the competition?”

            "No!" Emerald shrugged and gestured vaguely. "Well, I thought about it, but there’s a good chance you won’t have to fight Pyrrha at all. Sure, she’s good, but so’s everyone else. Besides, I’m sneaky, but there’s always a chance I’d get caught – and that’d be disastrous. We’d be right back were we were before Beacon, and I’m not going back to that.”

            “And?” Cinder pressed.

            “…And, I’m starting to like those nitwits,” Emerald admitted. “I’d feel kinda guilty afterwards.”

            Cinder smiled. “It’s good to know I’m not the only one getting soft. So you agreed to dinner for us?”

            “I thought I needed something to convince you to stop working! It was a spur-of-the-moment thing.”

            Cinder sighed. “Well, I suppose I could use something to eat.”

            “Great!” Emerald said. “I’ll go round up the others.”

 

            The dinner was a buffet, served in one of the common rooms of the dorm they were staying in. By the time they arrived, JNPR and CFVY were already there, spread out across the room and chatting to each other. Amber sat at the edge of the room, sipping from a glass. As they entered, conversations paused. Everyone greeted the new arrivals and returned to their meals or conversations.

            Neo made a beeline for the deserts and piled her plate high. Emerald and Mercury raided the buffet, selecting cuts of meat and fresh fruits. Cinder wandered through the tables, examining this and that, before making her choice and retreating to an empty table.

            Neo hopped up onto an empty seat next to Nora and Ren and started in on her meal. Ren smiled and shook his head. “I’m beginning to fear the two of you are bad influences on each other,” he said, pointedly taking a bite from the vegetables on his plate.

_We’re celebrating,_ Neo responded. _I can be responsible later._

            Nora shrugged. “Sounds reasonable to me.” She leaned across the table, pushing aside the ragged remains of her dinner. “Have you seen the specs on the armor the SDC is offering to the winner of the tournament?”

            Neo frowned and waggled her hand back and forth. _The memory effect is a nice touch, but isn’t it a bit gimmicky?_

            “Only if you don’t tinker a little,” Nora grinned. “The Dust channels laced through the suit are semi-conducting, so there’s only enough power running through them to reshape the armor. Imagine what would happen if you ran the conduits with something packing more kick.”

Neo sat back in her chair. _You’d need some way to vent the excess energy._

“Eh, bolt in some heat sinks. Or better yet, direct it. If you install the right heat sinks in the arms, you could run the excess heat out through the gloves.”

            _You’d need to magnify and direct the venting to make a viable weapon, but suppose you-_

            Ren cut off his translation. “Someone will be _wearing_ that,” he said, equal parts disturbed and fascinated. “You might as well strap them to a bomb and be done with it.”

            "I’m interested! What’d she say?”

            “Never mind that,” Ren said, casting around for a new topic of conversation. “Neo, I was very impressed by your team’s performance in the tournament. No matter who ends up winning, I don’t want there to be any hard feelings between our teams. How do you think your team is feeling?”

_If we do lose, I think we’d prefer to lose to you. If we both lose, no need to worry._

            “I’ll second that,” Nora said. “Beacon pride! Is that a thing?”

            “I’m glad to hear that.” Ren said. “This is, of course, assuming the other teams don’t take the victory themselves.”

            “Pyrrha’s fought in more tournaments than any three of them put together,” Nora opined. “They don’t know what they’re dealing with.”

_Cinder doesn’t know when to quit,_ Neo added. _I think they’ll do just fine._

            “And we’ll be there cheering them on,” Ren agreed.

 

            Pyrrha found Cinder nibbling a simple sandwich with no real dedication or interest. She pulled up a chair next to her classmate and sat down.

            "Nerves?" she asked.

            Cinder chuckled. "Maybe. I grew up out of the cities. I've done much more dangerous things than this before." She dropped the sandwich on the plate, abandoning all pretense of having a meal. "I shouldn't be so nervous about this."

            "It's not always about danger," Pyrrha said.

            "Of course it is," Cinder replied.

            Pyrrha paused. "It's not always about physical danger. You said you grew up outside the cities. Have you ever lead a team before?"

            Cinder shook her head. "It was always on someone else's shoulders. That shouldn't change anything, though. I'm the only one in the arena."

            "Your team's going to be watching you, cheering you on. They'll be watching." Pyrrha hesitated a moment, then continued. "I'm terrified of tomorrow."

            Cinder turned to face Pyrrha. "Even though you've done this before? I know about your history. You've been in tournaments for years."

            "I was never in a team, though. Back then, I fought on my own. If I lost, I lost. I'd be disappointed, my parents - well. The point is, it may not feel like it, but the stakes are higher. Of course you're going to be worried about the outcome. I know how much you value your team, so it makes sense that you're worried about letting them down."

            "Lovely," Cinder said. "It isn't about whether I win or lose the SDC's shiny new toys, it's about whether I win or lose my teammates’ respect."

            "Do you really believe that?" Pyrrha asked. "I've seen you fight with your team, but I've seen you reconcile. You were inseparable after you stopped the White Fang from attacking that bookshop. No matter how you perform in the tournament tomorrow, it's not going to affect how your team sees you. They already respect you too much to turn their backs on you now."

            Cinder nodded, processing the argument. "So - if that's true - why are you scared? You're one of the most likely fighters to actually win the tournament. You killed a Deathstalker with your team. What have you got to be afraid of?"

            Pyrrha smiled ruefully and looked away. "Does a fear have to be rational?"

            Cinder leaned forward, eager to explore a different topic. "You're avoiding my question."

            Pyrrha sighed. "You aren't going to believe me."

            "Try me."

            "I'm afraid I'm going to win," Pyrrha said.

            "... Go on."

            "I'm afraid I'm going to win without putting any effort in, and I'll defeat my opponents easily. I'm afraid that I'm going to be too skilled, and I'm going to frighten off- everyone."

            Cinder raised her eyebrows. "Everyone?"

            "Everyone but the sycophants and boot lickers," Pyrrha said. "Funny, isn't it? I'm afraid of success." She leaned back in her seat, studying the ceiling.

            “Well,” Cinder said, “I promise not to go easy on you.”

            Pyrrha chuckled. “Thank you. It’s good to know I’m not intimidating everyone. I hope you’re feeling better about your problems, too?”

            “…We’ll see.”

 

            The final day of the tournament, Cinder woke up early. She showered and dressed, careful not to wake the rest of her team. Dust was never in abundant supply for her, but the battle with Marcus and the last two tournament rounds had cost her much of her supply. She stocked her quiver with standard arrows and filled the remaining space with a flashbang arrow – made with traces of whatever Dust was available, it would explode with little actual impact, but plenty of light and noise - and a heavily-reinforced broadhead arrow that would strike with great force.

            She checked the clock. Still an hour before she needed to be awake. She returned to her bed, but sleep did not come. After a few minutes tossing and turning, she rose from her bed and made her way up to the top floor of the dormitory, which housed the common room and exit into Atlas Academy. The air was freezing cold, but temperature meant little to Cinder. She breathed out a cloud of smoke and embers as she drew on her Aura to warm herself. The ankle-deep snow hissed and steamed as she stepped out, moving further away from the building.

            Snow crunched behind her. Cinder spun around to find Emerald standing in the entrance to their dorm.

            “Emerald?” Cinder asked.

            The thief shrugged. “I heard you leave. Thought you might like some company.”

            Cinder paused.

            “You don’t –“

            “No, stay. I could use someone to talk to.”

            Emerald stepped out into the drifting snow, following in Cinder’s melted footsteps. She shivered a little – she had shoes and a jacket, but not enough to remain warm in the chill dawn air. Emerald relaxed once she reached Cinder’s side and the warm air rolling off of her in waves.

            Emerald didn’t prompt her, so Cinder stared up into the grey sky. After a minute, Cinder asked, “Do you ever miss your old life?”

            “I miss the good parts,” Emerald replied at once.

            “Would you go back?”

            “I left for a reason,” Emerald said, shaking her head. “Even if my last theft hadn’t gone wrong, though, I wouldn’t go back. I needed a push to leave, but being a Huntress is worlds better than snatching scraps.”

            Cinder nodded, still watching the snowfall.

            “You’re thinking about your old life too, aren’t you? Traveling outside the cities, scavenging from other failed settlements?”

            “You make it sound so dismal,” Cinder sighed. “Maybe it was. Looking back on everything, I’m happy with where I’ve ended up. Still, I never had a choice in the matter.”

            “You can’t help wondering what would’ve happened if you’d stayed?”

            “Exactly.”

            “That’s something you’re going to have to work out for yourself. I have regrets, of course. I stopped looking back a long time ago. If you let it, the past will bury you. Let it go.”

            Cinder turned to Emerald. “Are you speaking from experience?”

            “Second-hand. Neo forgave Tukson. Mercury got away from Marcus, and Marcus couldn’t accept that – look where he ended up.”

            Cinder nodded. “You’re right. Besides, I’ve got responsibilities now.”

            The two of them stood in the snow for another minute.

            “Okay, now say it like you believe it.”

            “Hush. I’m working on that part.”

            The sun cast its first rays over the buildings of Atlas Academy, painting the snow in a pale light. Cinder stretched, feeling her joints popped.

            “Time to get to work.”

            Emerald nodded. “We’ll all be rooting for you.”

            Cinder smiled. “Thank you. Let’s go wake the others up.”

 

            Amity was packed to the brim with spectators. Roman weaved through the crowd, pushing and shoving his way forward. More than once, he had a perfect opportunity for pickpocketing – one person had left their wallet half-out of their back pocket, for crying out loud. He’d reached for it, and then questioned – _Would this annoy Neo?_ Of course not – she’d agree that it was far too good an opportunity to waste. The hesitation cost him, though, and it was another minute before he was back in reach of his mark and relieving him of his wallet.

            The whole thing left a bitter taste in his mouth, another reminder that Neo was facing down people like Marcus Black and the creatures of Grimm. That was why he was lingering by one of Amity’s entrances, clearing his mind with a cigar.

            “Excuse me, sir,” someone said, “We thank spectators for not smoking on the Coliseum.”

            Roman turned and found a well-dressed attendant standing at his elbow, proffering an ashtray.

            “We do offer nicotine patches, should sir desire,” the man continued, producing a fan of the things from a pocket.

            Roman suppressed the instinctual scowl and sharp remark. There was no point in snapping at the hired help. “That’s fine, thanks.”

            The attendant proffered the ashtray with such hopeful enthusiasm that Roman groaned and stubbed out his cigar in the offered tray.

            “Thank you, sir. We hope you enjoy your stay.”

            Roman turned on his heel and left, pushing his way through the dispersing crowd. More and more people were finding their seats, making navigation much easier. He’d only just started that cigar, though. More out of stubborn obstinacy than any need for the nicotine, Roman stepped through a door to the maintenance corridors running through Amity. He retrieved a fresh cigar from his pocket and struck a match. The smoke wafted up, coiling towards the ceiling in thin strands. He sighed. It was probably time to find his seat for the finals and watch that Atlas kid and Ilia beat each other up, but it was easier to just remain in the hallway, puffing on his cigar and breathing out the smoke in long breaths. Roman wandered further down the corridor, tapping along the floor with his cane.

            The door he’d entered through swung open. Roman started, almost dropped his cigar, and lunged into the nearest alcove. As he did so, he belatedly realized he’d jumped for a flight of stairs leading deeper down, not a simple recessed nook in the corridor.

            He fumbled the first step, toppled forward, and caught himself with Melodic Cudgel’s hook, arresting his fall. Roman descended the stairs silently, old instincts taking over. He smothered his cigar against the wall and dropped it down the stairwell, which descended at least a half-dozen floors. Whoever was moving through the maintenance area was headed lower down – they made a beeline for the same staircase he was hiding on.

            Roman slipped down a floor and tried a door – locked. The thing required a keycard to open. For a minute he contemplated acting lost, or even admitting he’d stepped inside for a smoke, but only for a minute. How often did he get a chance to skulk around these days, anyway? He’d been a damn good rogue once, hadn’t he?

            As whoever-it-was began descending the staircase, Roman slipped further down, keeping a full rotation of the staircase between him and them. He padded downwards, moving without sound. With one hand, he held the railing. With the other, he held Melodic Cudgel. Between them, he remained in contact with the stairs at three points at all times, and he smoothly transferred his weight between handholds and footholds, never putting any weight on an appendage until it was planted on the ground or the railing.

            Roman allowed himself a small smile. He’d missed this more than he’d thought. Even this little bit of skullduggery, lacking any stakes, set his heart racing with excitement. He continued down the staircase, deeper into Amity.

 

            Cinder strode into the center of the arena. The final eight combatants formed a loose circle, eyeing one another with wary respect. Cinder glanced around her, recalling names and faces. To her left – a faunus. Sun Wukong. Then Cody Beut, the Atlas kid. Pyrrha Nikos. _Skilled at midrange, close range, long range, -_ her side twinged with remembered pain – _the shield_ hurts. _She can’t block my fire, but she can dodge it._ She shook the thought away. Against her, there’d be no time to plan out tactics and spot weaknesses. She needed to react without thinking, operate on instinct. Cinder continued her turn. Vallon Burgundy and Badroul Lambent, the Mistral finalists. Scarlett Nova, from Vacuo. She carried two sickles – best to stay out of close range, then. The last combatant – Ilia Amitola. Cinder squared her shoulders and took a deep breath. _Whatever happens, I’ll be ready._

 

            The trio of supply barges transmitted valid IFF codes to Amity Coliseum. With a beep of acknowledgement, Amity’s newly upgraded defense turrets shifted their focus away from the incoming vessels and returned to their passive state.

            Every sizable installation has an employee’s entrance, and Amity was no exception. Large cargo doors were set into the base of the structure, two levels up from the massive Dust core powering the engines that kept the mass of metal and volatile Dust from crashing to earth. They slid open, allowing the barges entrance.

            With the Vytal Festival underway, the hanger was all but deserted – the engineers who operated on the lowest levels of Amity were all occupied by their work. The one technician present in the hanger was sitting on a crate, watching the commencement of the finals on his scroll. When the doors opened, he jumped to his feet, hastily stowing his scroll and running to meet the vehicles.

            “I wasn’t informed about any deliveries,” the technician called. “What kind of last-minute patch do we have to deal with?”

            The rear hatches creaked open, old hydraulic systems straining and creaking as the panels descended.

            The technician walked around to the back of the foremost barge to address the occupants directly. “Do I need to call my supervisor? I haven’t heard about any trouble-“

            Adam slipped out of the barge and struck the man with the hilt of his sword, not bothering to draw the weapon. The technician dropped to the ground and lay there, unmoving.

            “Let’s go,” he called. More and more White Fang poured out of the barges, toting heavy metal cases.

            “Remember. Four teams plant the charges around the ring, radio in to confirm the placement, and return here for evacuation. Ilia's teams to the arena. Everyone else, with me. We go straight for the center. No matter what happens, get those charges in place. Now move.”

            The White Fang stormed forward and vanished deeper into Amity’s structure.

 

            In the arena, the displays flashed the first battle. Ilia Amitola versus Cody Beut. The crowd cheered as the combatants took their positions and the remaining finalists cleared the platform. With the faintest lurch, the platform lifted into the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back again!  
> It's easy to keep letting something lie dormant once you've diverted your focus elsewhere, but I knew I had to get back on track for Volume Five. In the intervening time, I've become aware of Game of Thrones. I swear, Atlas' Ice Cliff was not an intentional reference to GoT's Wall, I was just extrapolating from that one World of Remnant video. Well, I'm certainly no stranger to accidental references, as my username can attest to.   
> Finally, for those of you curious about the names of the finalists:   
> Sun, Cinder, Pyrrha, and Ilia should need no explanation, hopefully. Three of the others are the unnamed finalists from Roosterteeth's Volume Three.  
> All we know about the guy with the feather in his hat is that he was inspired by the Three Musketeers. Porthos du Vallon was a Musketeer who really enjoyed wine, so Vallon Burgundy, a common color for wine.  
> Cody Beut, who made a brief appearance earlier, was apparently inspired by Halo. Cody is a space marine from a different franchise. Beut is a corruption of Beute, German for prey, which has nothing to do with Halo and everything to do with his role in the story.  
> The hooded one was inspired by Aladdin. I decided on Badroul Lambent because in the original myth, Aladdin married princess Badroulbador, and I got Lambent from light, as a lamp is central to the story.  
> Finally, Scarlett Nova. Team RWBY will also not be in the tournament, so Scarlett is taking the seventh slot, and is also a terrible pun. Scarlet, of course, and I’m using Nova as the feminine singular of the Latin Novus, or new. So, we have a new Red standing in for Ruby, who is currently preparing to be very busy indeed.  
> Ilia is our eighth, taking Penny's slot. Penny will not be appearing in the tournament, but if I needed to come up for a substitute for her, I’d go with Zin Core. It’s a contemptible pun, I know, but I couldn’t resist.


	9. Volume Three, Chapter Nine: Opening Moves

Volume Three, Chapter Nine: Opening Gambit

 

Cody Beut took his position opposite Ilia Amitola. The Atlas student wore white armor pads on his chest and shoulders over a grey shirt. His pants were unarmored, for better mobility. He unholstered his rifle – a sleek weapon with a flared muzzle and heavy stock. The device circling the back of his head came to life and projected a heads-up display before his eyes.

Ilia wore a simple black jumpsuit that left her arms free, light climbing shoes, and a small white earpiece. The outfit was utilitarian in the extreme – aside from the holster for the weapon at her hip and a backpack, it was unadorned and featureless. She drew her weapon – a segmented whip with a thick guard – and extended it before her, settling into a loose stance and waiting.

“Nice weapon,” Mercury remarked.

“What?” Emerald asked.

“Her team’s not from one of the combat schools. She’s from out of the cities, and she still managed to put that together,” he clarified. “Parts of it actually look polished and refined. I made my legs myself, but I never had any time to waste on making them look good until I got to Beacon.”

Emerald shrugged. “Maybe she stole it.”

“You assume everyone steals things.”

“I’m usually right. Quiet, it’s starting.”

The remaining contestants cleared the central platform, and it lifted into the air. Ilia and Cody locked eyes as they rose upwards. The combatants stood two meters apart. “Three!” The announcer called.

In the SDC box, Weiss keyed a long password into her scroll. Her device came to life and projected a complex holographic interface into the air. The most prominent sections were a camera feed of the Amity battle and a diagram of the entirety of Amity Colosseum.

Cody lifted his rifle to his shoulder, taking aim at Ilia’s torso. “Two!”

Weiss zoomed in on Cody’s visor and input another password.

Ilia tensed, ready to spring. “One!”

 _Administrative Override Recognized_ , Cody’s visor flashed, and then deactivated.

“Fight!”

Cody recoiled, bringing one hand up to his visor. He squeezed the trigger of his weapon with the other, spraying a volley of energy blasts at Ilia. With only one hand, the recoil sent them spraying through the air with little accuracy. One or two of the blasts struck her, but not enough to do any real damage to her Aura.

Ilia snapped her weapon forward. Her guard glowed with yellow light as the Dust within activated, charging the strike with electrical energy. The segments of the weapon shifted and rippled with the strike, extending to nearly twice the whip’s original length. The blow caught Cody on the elbow, knocking a chunk from his Aura.

Undeterred, Cody fell away from Ilia into a roll. As he dropped, he continued firing, keeping Ilia from closing in. She lashed him again as he rolled back, but he came back to his feet and slammed a new clip into his weapon. This one glowed purple.

Weiss scowled and tapped away at her scroll.

As Cody raised his rifle to aim down the ironsights, his visor came back to life. It locked itself to sold white, blinding him. With no time to remove the device, he emptied his clip at where he’d seen Ilia standing, hoping to drive her back.

When his rifle clicked empty, he reached for his visor again. Before he could get halfway, Ilia’s whip wrapped around his throat. At the push of a button, her weapon’s Dust activated again, sending a surge of electricity through him. On the screens surrounding the arena, his Aura dropped below 50%.

“That’s not right,” Mercury said.

“Aw, did you bet on the other guy?” Emerald asked.

“Look, Emerald. He’s not fighting properly. Something’s wrong.”

“I swear I had nothing to do with this,” Emerald muttered, leaning forward in her seat to peer closely at the match. She found Cinder waiting with the other finalists below the battle and activated her Semblance.

Cinder started and almost dropped her bow when glowing green letters appeared before her eyes. _Cinder – Mercury thinks Cody’s been sabotaged. Someone’s disrupting the matches. Be careful._ Cinder took a deep breath and withdrew an arrow from her quiver. She inspected it carefully, searching for signs of tampering. Finding none, she moved on to the next.

Cody dropped his rifle. With one hand, he slapped his belt, fumbling an extendable baton into his hand with spasming fingers. With the other, he groped backwards, trying to get a grip on Ilia.

Ilia retreated, keeping Cody as far from her as possible while maintaining a grip on him with her whip.  He jerked his hand up, striking his visor with his baton as hard as possible. The reinforced material didn’t break, but it cracked. The solid white screen blocking his vision shattered into a kaleidoscope of stuttering colors. With his free hand, Cody grabbed Ilia’s whip and pulled it taut, reeling her in closer.

Ilia’s whip was far shorter than Emerald’s chains, and Cody was within range of his baton in moments. As his Aura dipped below 30%, he swiped at her with his baton. Ilia ducked the blow and aimed her weapon’s guard at him. She squeezed the trigger twice and her weapon emptied both chambers. The rounds slammed into Cody’s chest and head, dropping his Aura to disqualification levels. The buzzer sounded, announcing the end of the round.

As the crowd cheered, Ilia unwound her whip from Cody’s neck. He tore his visor from his head and scowled at the broken equipment. When he turned away from her to retrieve his rifle, she loaded new rounds into her weapon. That done, she tapped her earpiece.

“This is Ilia. Time for the speech.”

Not pausing for conformation, she raised her weapon and shot Cody in the leg. Although he still possessed Aura in reserve, Cody hadn’t bothered maintaining his defenses, now that the round was over. The bullet tore through his shin. As he collapsed to the ground, he mustered his Aura again, an instinctual reaction to the searing pain.

Two lashes from Ilia’s whip properly depleted him. The stands erupted into chaos, yelling and shouting. Ilia snapped her whip around Cody’s neck a second time and dragged him to a sitting position. He clutched at his leg, gasping for breath and trying not to cry out.

Weiss tapped another sequence into her Scroll. Every screen in Amity focused on Ilia’s face.

Glynda surged to her feet from her seat at the edge of the stands, but the protective forcefield surrounding the arena prevented her from getting to the battle. She struck the field with her riding crop, sending a ripple of energy across the field, but the forcefield remained in place.

Down in the arena below, Sun drew his staff and sprinted towards the floating platform where the battle was taking place. “Give me a boost!” he yelled.

Pyrrha stood between him and the platform. As he approached her, she cupped her hands together. When he leapt into the air, she caught his foot and threw him higher. As he reached the apex of his arc, he activated his Semblance and conjured a glowing clone that threw him higher still. With that boost, he sailed up over the edge of the platform.

Weiss jabbed at her scroll. The arena platform responded, drifting up and away from the arcing Huntsman. Sun grabbed at the lip of the platform and missed by inches. He tumbled back to the ground and landed in a roll before bouncing back to his feet. Above him, Ilia and Cody’s platform came to a halt twice as high as its previous altitude.

“People of Amity!” Ilia cried. “I’m sure you must be very confused.” She withdrew a bone-white mask from her bag and donned it. “Let me help with that.”

White Fang soldiers emerged from every exit to the colosseum – no more than one or two at any one exit, but enough to keep the people within from fleeing. They brandished simple firearms – pistols and rifles, for the most part.

“This is about vengeance,” Ilia continued. “Atlas is the heart of the Schnee Dust Company. The Schnees make their money with the toil and blood of the Faunus. I’m here with a message. Can you see me from up there, Weiss?” Ilia turned to the VIP booth. “You spent millions of Lien on upgrading and improving Amity over the past year. We’re going to destroy it in the next hour. Step down as the head of the SDC. Submit to a full investigation into your labor practices on all four continents. If you don’t, we’ll be back. Next time, we’ll knock your mansion down.”

 

Events began to unfold very quickly at that point.

Up in the SDC box, Weiss shifted her attention to the Amity hologram. She typed _Iconoclasm._ The massive engines keeping Amity aloft roared to full power, nudging the great colosseum into motion. At the same time, turrets and missile pods built into Amity’s sides and top whirred to life, locking onto targets on the ground below.

In the guts of Amity, Adam’s men eliminated the four security patrols. They were unarmored and unprepared for a fight. The security never stood a chance.

Chaos erupted in the stands as the masses of spectators panicked and stampeded away. The ones closest the arena fought towards the exits. The ones closest to the exits attempted to flee the White Fang at the exits. Small clusters of Huntsmen struggled to remain together in the thronging crowd.

General Ironwood rose to his feet, drawing his revolver from its holster. He located the nearest cluster of White Fang and took aim, but his focus was on the Atlas security chief broadcasting into his earpiece.

“Internal surveillance just went down, but managed to confirm all stadium exits are blocked by White Fang. Amity’s engines are firing – cannot confirm direction at this time. ETA of first responders is sixty seconds. Security inside Amity is not responding, believed to be KIA. We have no –“

Ironwood tapped the earpiece, shutting off the feed. From his position in the VIP seats, closest to the arena, he could see most of the stadium exits. The stadium, like the arena, was arranged into an octagon. Sixteen exits ringed the stadium halfway between the edge of Amity and the arena, and sixteen more ringed the very edge of the stadium. One or two white-uniformed Faunus blocked each exit, but there were too many to properly secure any of them.

There was no way to coordinate with what remained of Atlas security in Amity to bring down the White Fang guarding the exits. Too many of them, too few guards, and no margin for error. Ironwood could bring down several guards before they began firing back, but there was no way to account for all of them, and too many civilians to protect.

Ironwood made a decision. He drew his revolver and snapped the cylinder open. He let the rounds fall to the floor and reloaded the weapon with explosive bullets. Ironwood trained the weapon on Ilia and pulled the trigger three times. The forcefield held. He’d seen the specs on the thing – it accounted for nearly a third of Amity’s power draw on its own when under light strain. The safety interlocks would cut power to almost every other system to keep it running. He fired twice more.

As the echoes of his shots resonated around the arena, Ironwood caught Glynda’s stare from where she sat, a third of the way around the VIP ring. She gave him a terse nod as he pulled the trigger a sixth time, sending one last round into the forcefield. As the echoes of the shot died away, Glynda whipped her riding crop through the air. She tore the three nearest groups of White Fang off their feet and hurled them into the air.

Huntsmen fell on the White Fang with whatever weapons they carried to the tournament – often just their Aura-enhanced blows and their Semblances. One trainee launched himself through the air in a burst of silver-grey light, sending the White Fang flying when he connected. Another trainee dropped off his back and dispatched the downed Fang before they could recover. Seeing the tide turn, Ilia shot Cody again and fled. She leapt off the floating platform on the opposite side from the remaining finalists. Several of them fired at her, but she was through an exit and away in moments.

Ironwood reloaded his revolver in a smooth, practiced motion and fired at the few White Fang not targeted in the initial assault. His heart was jackhammering in his chest and sweat beaded on his brow. He’d just gambled the lives of most of the stadium on the chance that the Huntsmen would recognize his crude 3-2-1 signal.

With another tap, Ironwood reactivated his earpiece. In the intervening seconds, someone else had joined the channel. He recognized the voice as the captain currently stationed on the edge of the massive glacier, known colloquially as the Great Ice Cliff, that formed Atlas’ first line of defense. He cut the man off midsentence.

“This is Ironwood. Hostage takers in the arena have been neutralized. We’re evacuating everyone now. Do not fire on any transport departing from the upper level, but corral them into one landing zone and screen the people departing. Amity has been compromised.”

“It’s worse than that, sir,” the security chief responded. “First responders are cut off – Amity’s defense systems are targeting any transports that get too close. Other defenses are striking at targets of opportunity on the ground. Trajectory analysis is in – She’s moving towards Atlas Academy.”

“Sound an alarm and lock the Academy down now,” Ironwood snapped. “I’ll handle the defenses and get the civilians out. Be ready to bring Amity down as soon as all civilians are clear.”

 

Mercury blasted back to Emerald and team Juniper. Neo hopped off his back and landed on an unoccupied chair next to Emerald. Mercury’s deceleration was markedly less smooth; he wiped out three chairs before stopping completely. The ex-assassin staggered to his feet, clutching an armful of firearms.

“I got their guns,” he said.

“Who doesn’t bring their own?” Emerald asked, flourishing her revolvers.

“It is considered rude to bring firearms into a crowded space,” Ren replied.

            “Didn’t the staff stop you?” Jaune asked.

            Emerald shrugged. “Mercury and Neo hide theirs. Cinder was expected to have hers.

            “What about you?”

            The thief smiled. “I have my ways. Take a gun from Mercury if you want one and let’s go.”

            “Ugh,” Nora said, inspecting her new pistol, “The Talon? The _358_ -Talon. I want a better class of enemy.”

            Emerald leaned over the railing and found Cinder. The six remaining finalists were clustered together, keeping their weapons trained on the arena’s exits. With no way to see out of the arena, they had no information about what was going on in the stands. She activated her Semblance again.

            _White Fang are seizing Amity,_ Emerald transmitted to Cinder. _The stands are safe for now._ _We need to meet up, and the interior is going to be crawling with Fang. Team Juniper and us can try to meet you halfway, taking the same route we took in the initial round._

“Everyone listen up,” Cinder called. “We need to get to the stands. With the forcefield up, we’re going through the interior. Stick close and watch each other’s backs.”

            “Who died and made you leader?” Sun asked.

            “Would you like the responsibility?” Cinder asked, sugar-sweet.

            “Interior, got it,” he said, spinning his nunchucks.

            “Wait,” Pyrrha said. “We need to get to the stands?”

            “That’s the idea, yes. Unless you can breach the forcefield, we’re going through the tunnels.”

            “Stand back.” Pyrrha extended her arms towards the edge of the arena. She inhaled, exhaled, then took a deep breath and held it.

            “What’s she doing?” one of the other finalists asked.

            Cinder waved for him to be quiet. There was something wrong with the air. The screaming crowds weren’t helping any, but there was a pressure in the air that wasn’t present a moment ago.

            Pyrrha clenched her fists. Every muscle in her arms and neck stood rigid under her skin. Cinder opened her mouth, closed it again, and almost lost her balance. Her ears were ringing. Her heart pounded in her chest. Her weapons quivered in her hands, pulling away and then pushing back.

            With an awful rending shriek, the wall of the arena crumpled away from the lower forcefield generator ring. The heavily reinforced, fail-proof forcefield continued to project a cylinder around the arena, but the crumpled, twisted wall formed a ramp underneath the barrier and up into the stands.

            Pyrrha collapsed, blood running from her nostrils. Cinder staggered, but maintained her feet. She bent over and took deep breaths, willing the dizziness to fade.

            Almost everyone had fled the closest rings of seats, giving teams Juniper and Crimson a clear run to their leaders. Jaune was the first one down the tunnel.

            “Watch the tunnels! There might be more coming!” Jaune called, then focused on Pyrrha.

            Mercury was the next one through. As soon as he passed the forcefield, he blasted himself up onto the floating arena platform. Cody lay unconscious on the ground, but Mercury found a pulse. His Aura was a flickering, ephemeral glow, but it would keep him alive long enough for proper medical care. Mercury retrieved Cody in a fireman’s carry and returned to the ground.

            By the time he landed, everyone was gathered together at the edge of the arena. “He’ll live,” Mercury announced, “but he’s not going to be walking anywhere for a while.”

            “Let me,” Ren said. Mercury passed Cody over. With practiced efficiency, Ren took Cody’s weight and hoisted him over a shoulder. “You still have your weapons – you should not be the one carrying wounded.”

            “Speaking of, how’s Pyrrha?” Cinder asked Jaune.

            Jaune draped one of her arms over his shoulder and helped her to her feet. “She’s exhausted. I had no idea she could accomplish something like that.”

            “We need to go, now,” Cinder said. “Carry her if you have to, but the stadium is being evacuated.”

            Jaune nodded. “Most of us have weapons. We should get to the docks and help protect the civilians while they evacuate.” He turned to the other finalists. “You have your own weapons, not just pistols. Can you help us?”

            Sun nodded. “I think I speak for everyone here when I say yes. Let’s go save some people.”

            Just then, Neo’s scroll rang. She glanced at the screen. _Roman_ , it read. Neo jabbed the answer button.

            “Neo, what –“ Cinder asked. Neo held up a hand for silence and lifted the scroll to her ear.

            “Neo!” Roman hissed. “There’s White Fang crawling through the Amity tunnels. You need to get out of here, now!”

            Both of Neo’s eyes turned pale white. She almost dropped her scroll while setting it to speakerphone.

            Roman’s voice crackled out into the air. “-headed for the engines. I think they were carrying explosives.”

            “Torchwick?” Cinder asked. “Slow down. Where are you?”

            “Get out! Contact Atlas security! I’ll disrupt them where I can.”

            Neo pulled her scroll close and began tapping at the microphone. She wasn’t pressing buttons, just transmitting a series of taps and pauses.

            _W, A, I, T –_

            “I need to go – they’ll hear me. Be safe, Neo. I love you.”

            The scroll clicked off.

            Neo looked up at Cinder. _Please,_ she said.

            Cinder turned to Jaune. “We _will_ meet you at the docks. Get Cody and the civilians out safe.”

            “We can’t just-“ Nora started.

            “A small group stands a better chance of going unnoticed,” Ren said. He clasped Cinder’s forearm. “Good luck.”

            Mercury glanced at Emerald. “You might be needed for the evacuation.”

            “Bite me. I’m staying.”

            “Fair enough. I’m always happy to give my dad another kick in the teeth.”

            Nora grabbed Neo in a bear hug. “I will meet you on the dock, do you hear me? Me and Ren will get Cody out and we will wait for you.”

            Pyrrha pulled away from Jaune, supporting herself on shaky feet. She turned back to Cinder and her team. “Good luck, Cinder.”

            Cinder nodded, then nocked an arrow to her bow. “See you at the docks.”

            Team Crimson separated from Juniper and the other finalists. As they began their ascent back into the stadium, the four teammates chose a tunnel and entered the lower levels. They did not look back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, Volume Three got dark. Well, they say you can judge a hero by their villains. It's about time that mine started building their reputations. It's also nice to finally be done with all the setup. I'm not saying that nothing major happened during V3 - a lot of important stuff did - but I was also doing a lot with an eye to future payoffs. Finally, canon RWBY will be returning soon. Here's hoping we get to see some of Neo this volume. (And the rest of CMSN, of course, but Neo's been missing the most.)


	10. Volume Three, Chapter Ten: Fork

 Volume Three, Chapter Ten: Fork

 

            The first thing that hit Cinder as she entered the lower level of Amity Colosseum was the smell of blood. There was no mistaking it. The coppery tang lingered in the air and raised the hairs on the back of her neck. She drew back an arrow, peering into the darkness feebly illuminated by red emergency lighting. "Do the rest of you smell that?", she asked.

            "It's not the kind of thing you forget," Mercury commented. Even when he was standing several feet behind her and to one side, she could feel his Aura. He was pushing hard, maintaining it at full power. At the first sign of trouble, he could rocket forward and blast into his opponent.

            "Roman sounded panicked," Emerald said. "Whatever they're up to up down here, we can expect more skilled opponents than the rabble we saw in the stadium."

            Cinder flicked her fingers, sending a dart of fire down the hallway. Her flame illuminated nothing but empty corridor. "Emerald, Mercury, take point," she said. "Keep quiet - we don't want to alarm anyone until we know what's going on here. Neo, keep trying to contact Roman. Text him – he may not be willing to make noise.”

            Mercury nodded. He advanced down the corridor in a low crouch. Despite his metal legs, he was all but silent. Every step was careful and deliberate, never scraping along the floor or kicking a protruding pipe. Emerald padded right behind him, revolvers at the ready. She made no effort to move with stealth - it came naturally to the ex-thief. Cinder and Neo brought up the rear, glancing over their shoulders as they moved deeper into the guts of Amity.

 _No answer,_ Neo signed. _He should have responded by now._

            Mercury paused. “Can you contact anyone at all?” he called over his shoulder.

            Neo swiped through her contacts and found Nora. She stabbed the call button. After a minute, _Call Disconnected_ flashed across the screen.

            “Civilian tech,” Mercury shrugged. “Easy to jam. If we had Atlas radios, we could probably get a call out, but not with these cheap things.”

            The corridor terminated in a heavy airlock. Mercury rattled the airlock's valve to no effect. "This isn't the kind of thing I can pick," Emerald whispered to Cinder. "I don't suppose you can melt it?"

            "Give me a week and I might get through," she replied. "Mercury, can you break it down with a charge?"

            "Give me an hour and I might get through," he echoed. "I might even do it without killing myself."

 _There's no time,_ Neo signed _. I'll get it_.

            "Neo, what are you-" Cinder began.

            Neo drew her blade from her umbrella and blinked herself four feet forward, through the heavy airlock.

            The petite Huntress stumbled as she reappeared on the other side of the door. Before she could regain her balance, someone shot her twice in the chest.

            The gunshots sounded through the door: a pair of muted thumps. Cinder yelled and punched the small circular viewport at the top of the hatch, trying to get a look at the room beyond.

            Neopolitan collapsed against the other side of the hatch and slid to the ground.

            "Good shooting, man!" one of the four White Fang in the room congratulated his partner, patting him on the shoulder.

            Who the hell is this?" another one asked, stepping forward to poke at her downed body.

            "Wait, she's a-" the shooter yelled, as Neo kicked the Faunus' legs out from under him. He slammed to the ground on top of Neo. "Don't shoot!" he yelped as the three other Fang drew firearms and aimed them at the duo. They held that position for a minute, each eyeing the others, until the captive Faunus took matters into his own hands. He braced his feet on the floor and shoved backwards, slamming Neo into the airlock again. He threw himself over Neo's right arm, trying to tie up her blade and get out of the line of fire. His teammates took the opportunity and opened fire on the prone Huntress.

            Neo snapped her umbrella open, deflecting the bullets around the room with a hail of metal-on-metal ricochets. As the shooters recoiled, Neo kicked her umbrella, launching it into the face of the leftmost shooter. She rolled onto her back and kicked at the lever locking the airlock closed. Neo activated her Semblance, blinking away from the White Fang grappling with her and behind the middle shooter. As always, her entrance came with a brief bright flash, which gave the White Fang operative enough warning to slam his elbow into her gut. Her already-strained Aura gave out in a flash of pink, and Neo retreated as he spun and brought his gun into line. Neo stomped on the edge of a discarded wrench, knocking it into the air. She caught it at its apex and swung it into his wrist, sending his shot astray.

            Cinder and Mercury braced themselves and pulled on the valve, trying to spin it open. The White Fang who was grappled by Neo pulled on the other side of the airlock, holding it shut. As the valve began to turn under the combined efforts of two Hunters-in-training, he jammed a sprocket into the mechanism, arresting the motion.

            Neo jumped, bent her legs in midair, and kicked her opponent in the chest, sending him reeling back. It would have given the two other gunmen excellent shots, had she remained in one place. As she fell, she caught herself on her hands and pushed herself forward, darting in under their first shots. She rolled back to her feet between them and stuck around herself with blade and wrench, knocking the two Fang to the ground.

            Neo threw the wrench at the one she kicked in the chest. He wasn’t moving much, but it never hurt to be sure. She stepped up behind the final White Fang member, grabbed his head, and slammed it into the viewport a few times. He flopped bonelessly to the ground and Neo unjammed the door.

            Cinder and her teammates rushed into the room.

            “What were you thinking?” Cinder asked. “You nearly got yourself killed out there.”

 _There wasn’t any time,_ Neo defended. _We couldn’t backtrack and find another route._

            “These aren’t street thugs, Neo,” Cinder said. “These are professionals. You need to be more careful.”

            “Guys!” Mercury interrupted. “You need to see this.”

            Cinder turned and took stock of the room they were in for the first time. Neo’s fight with the White Fang had been centered around the airlock, but the room was much larger than that, about the size of a Beacon classroom. The red emergency lighting filled the room with shadows, but the massive structure in the center was unmistakable: A cylindrical structure, crisscrossed with pipes and sensors and ringed with computer consoles, twice the size of a human. It glowed with Dust, and Cinder counted half a dozen Dust intake and outflow valves before she stopped counting. The device continued through the floor and down at least one more level.

            “We’re in an engine room,” Cinder said.

            “Not that,” Mercury said, “this.”

            He indicated a large silver case propped against the engine generator. It was open, revealing a tangle of wires and Dust vials nestled around a keypad.

 _ARMED,_ the keypad’s screen blinked. _ARMED._

 

            “Status?” Weiss asked.

            _Rank Seven, checking in,_ a voice crackled from her scroll. _I’m with the crowds. Evacuation is delayed until they can bring the point defenses down._

            Weiss gazed out her window at the empty stadium below. “What about Bull?”

            _Bull says Speaker just arrived. She’s unhurt, but we didn’t expect them to begin evacuation so fast. Bull needs more time to set up._

            “How much more?”

            _Just a few minutes. Speaker will lead the majority of the troops to evac. Bull will finish up and join them._

“There’s at least one group of trainees in the tunnels with you,” Weiss said. “Be aware.”

            _I’ll pass that along._

The line crackled for a moment. When signal returned, the roar of wind could be heard in the background.

 _Thorns here!_ a new voice announced. _I’m cold, but I’m in position. The Grimm are agitated, but they know better than to try the Ice Cliff defenses._

            “Be ready,” Weiss said. “We’re moving up the schedule.”

            _Crucible here. I’m in the crowd. Ready whenever you are, princess._

Weiss deactivated her scroll. The holographic projections of Amity vanished. She took a deep breath, then stood and exited her VIP box.

            In the hall outside, her bodyguards had produced firearms and melee weapons, and were covering the stairs on both ends of the corridor. A pair of technicians huddled in the middle of the guards.

            “Get the adaptive armor ready to move,” Weiss said. “We are not leaving that behind for the White Fang.”

            “Ma’am?” One technician asked.

            “Move!” Weiss snapped, and they hurried to obey. As they opened the VIP box, someone called, “Friendly!”

            Weiss turned to see General Ironwood striding up the stairs. Despite the chaos of Amity, his uniform remained immaculate. “Why haven’t you evacuated yet?” he demanded.

            “We need to secure the armor,” Weiss began. “The Reactive Heavy Dust Weave is an extremely valuable new technology.”

            “You need to secure yourself. Forget the adaptive armor and go. You can have your engineers fabricate another set.” Ironwood motioned to the bodyguards. “Keep your principal safe and get to the docks. We’re working on clearing a flight path now.”

            The technicians hurried to rejoin the SDC security. Weiss scowled. “That armor would have gone to the winner of the Vytal Festival Tournament.”

            “Build another,” Ironwood replied. “I need to get you out of here alive.”

 

            "This is a bomb," Cinder said. "It's got to be."

            "Anyone know how to defuse it?" Mercury asked, his tone of voice indicating he already knew the answer.

            "Someone get me light," Emerald said. "I had to beat the occasional security system. I can try to deal with this."

 _Marcus didn't cover this?_ Neo asked.

            "Explosives are expensive and sloppy," Mercury replied. “I never worked with anything this size. What happens if this goes off, anyway? Can we just lock the room again and leave, or is this going to put a hole in the side of the ship?"

            "This is high-quality Dust," Cinder noted, conjuring a flame with a snap of her fingers, "but there's not much of it. Amity's tough. This won't put a hole in it, not by a long shot."

 _We're in an engine room. It doesn't have to,_ Neo said.

            "Uh-oh."

            "I studied Amity,” Cinder said. “There are four engines that propel Amity around and one massive antigravity engine at the very heart of the structure. This is one of the engines. To take Amity down, they need to take down the antigravity generator."

            "So why are they bothering with this?"

            “An uncontrolled fall is more destructive than a controlled one,” Cinder said. “If they kill all the propulsion at once, it would be like dropping a mountain.”

 _There’s a lot of Dust in Amity,_ Neo added. _If even half of it goes off when it crashes, it would make a colossal crater._

            “Everyone stop speculating, okay?” Emerald asked. “You’re making me nervous.” She reached into the bomb and began tracing wires with her fingers. She tapped a discrete plastic rectangle in the heart of the tangle of wires. “It’s not on a timer. Someone has a detonator they’ll activate to set it off.”

            “So, can you disable it?”

            Emerald shook her head. “This is professional. There have to be failsafes. I don’t dare start cutting wires.”

            “Are there failsafes to prevent it from being moved?” Cinder asked.

            “What?” Emerald reexamined the bomb. “No. No, there aren’t.”

            “Good,” Cinder said. She grasped the bomb’s case, pulled it closed, and hauled it into the air. Cinder threw the bomb out of the engine room, back the way they came, then pulled the hatch closed and locked it. “We don’t need to disarm it, we just need to get it away from the engines.”

            “Great,” Mercury said, “but this means there’s going to be more White Fang at the other engines.”

 _Why haven’t they set the bombs off yet?_ Neo asked.

            “What?”  
            _Amity was practically on top of Atlas Academy when the White Fang attacked. If they’ve got bombs like this on all the engines, why haven’t they set them off yet? They could destroy Atlas Academy._

            “They might have issued demands,” Emerald offered.

            “No matter what, we need to hurry,” Cinder said. “If we can retake the central antigravity engine, we can turn this around.”

 _Roman might have realized the same thing,_ Neo added. _We might have backup._

            “I’d rather have a few squads of Atlas soldiers, personally,” Mercury said, “but I’ll take what I can get.”

            “We need to focus on the central engine,” Cinder said. “Once we retake that, we can get Roman and get out. Until then, there’s nothing stopping them from bringing Amity down whenever they like. Atlas doesn’t know about the explosives yet. They won’t be ready for them.”

 

            Four White Fang clustered around the explosive planted at the foot of one of Amity’s four engines.

            “Is it armed?” one asked.

            “Give me a moment.”

            “You’ve been setting it up for the past five minutes. We need to go.”

            “There. It’s armed.”

            The four of them rose to their feet.

            “Seems a little small, don’t you think?”

            “Think of the whole generator as the bomb. This is just the ignition.”

            “Enough chatter,” the leader snapped. “We need to get back to the hanger and evacuate. Let’s go.”

            Somewhere at the edge of the room, metal clattered against metal. The deep shadows cast by the emergency lighting revealed nothing.

            All four Fang drew pistols.

            “What was that?” One hissed.

            “Stay calm. There’s nothing-“

            A hook attached to a long cable flew out of the darkness. One of the Fang jerked his head to one side. It missed him by inches. The cable suddenly went taut, then retracted. The hook revered course, caught the hapless Faunus around the neck, and yanked him out of view. There was a heavy thump, then silence.

            The three remaining White Fang opened fire in the direction the cable came from. The muzzle flashes revealed nothing.

            “Back up. Back up,” the leader said. “Get to the exit.”

            “What if it’s at the exit?”

            “Just move!”

            They scrambled back to the corridor that would return them to the hanger they entered from. The heavy airlock separating the engine room from the rest of Amity was firmly shut.

            “What was that?”

            “Shut up and get the hatch open.”

            One of the Fang rattled the valve that would unlock the hatch. The leader and remaining Faunus watched the way they came, peering into the dim light. “It’s stuck!” he reported.

            “What?”

            “The door’s stuck! It won’t open!”

            The leader spun around. He grabbed hold of the valve and yanked on it hard.

            A red flare came screaming out of the darkness and slammed into the chest of the White Fang member watching their backs. The blast knocked him off his feet and sent him slamming into the leader.

            Roman Torchwick sprinted out of the shadows and launched the head of his cane at the one unstaggered White Fang member. The hook wrapped around his legs as he aimed his pistol at Roman, and a quick tug sent him to the floor and his shot into the ceiling. Roman cracked his cane across the face of the one opponent trying to rise. Then, he released his grip and let the hook reel the cane in, sending it crashing into the gut of his last opponent.

            Roman bent down and untangled the cane head from the legs of the unconscious Faunus.

            “Well,” he said to himself, “That’s four.”

 

            Team Juniper pushed through the crowds of panicking civilians and reached Glynda. Amber stood next to her, shifting from foot to foot and scanning the crowds. Her hands clenched and unclenched at her sides, searching for a staff that wasn’t there.

            “Students,” Glynda said, “I’m glad to see you unharmed.” She eyed their scavenged weapons. “We haven’t had any more attacks from the White Fang since they attempted to take the stadium, but be ready.” She indicated the thronging crowd of panicked people. A few Huntsmen peppered the crowd, either alone or in groups of four, but the majority of the people on the docks were untrained and unarmed. “It wouldn’t take much to panic them into a stampede, and there’s nowhere to go until we can bring Amity’s defenses down.

            “The White Fang took over Amity’s anti-Grimm turrets?” Ren asked.

            Glynda nodded. “At present, any transport approaching or leaving Amity will be shot down. Atlas security is trying to bring down the defenses without risking collateral damage, but the SDC builds to last. Anything powerful enough to punch through the armored turrets risks harming us.

            “So, it’s a stalemate, then?” Jaune asked.

            “There are Huntsman teams on the way,” Glynda replied. “Atlas can bring more force to bear, given time to respond. They can disable the guns, evacuate Amity, and retake it.”

            “Why wait?” Jaune asked.

            “Mister Arc?”

            “I mean, we’re Huntsmen. In training, but Huntsmen. You’re a full Huntress. Couldn’t we disable the turrets? We wouldn’t need to get all of them, just open a path for the transports to get out.”

            “If the White Fang attack us here, we will need everyone to repel them. Should we be caught unprepared, we would be unable to protect the civilians.”

            “I know, but you just said the White Fang can’t hold Amity for long. They have to know that, right?”

            “What are you saying?”

            “If they know they can’t hold Amity for long, then whatever they’re planning has to be quick. This isn’t a siege – it can’t be, not when Atlas has reinforcements so close. We shouldn’t treat it like one.”

            Glynda stared at him for a moment.

            “I mean, you probably know what you’re doing, I just thought that, well-“

            “Amber, with me,” Glynda said. “We’re going to disable the turrets on this side of Amity and begin the evacuation immediately. “Mister Arc, take your teammates and assist in the defense. We will return shortly.”

            Amber hurried to catch up to Glynda as she pushed her way to the edge of Amity. Far below them, the snow-covered ground rushed by.

            “I’ll protect us,” Glynda said. “Focus on disabling the defenses.”

            “I’ve never tried to do something like this,” Amber protested. “I don’t know if I can.”

            “You are the Fall Maiden,” Glynda reminded her. “I will do what I can to aid you, but you can accomplish this.”

            Amber took a deep breath. “I’m ready.”

            “Good. Let’s begin.”

            The duo stepped off the edge of the platform and began to fall.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was so sure that Cinder was planning to drop Amity on something, back at the end of V3. Well, she wasn’t, but I liked the theory enough to reuse it here.


	11. Volume Three, Chapter Eleven: Forced Move

 Volume Three, Chapter Eleven: Forced Move

 

            Amity’s antigravity engine was located above the Dust crystal that powered the facility. A tangle of conduits plunged deep into the crystal, drawing on its immense power. No other Dust crystal of its type massing half as much had been successfully mined anywhere in Remnant. Dust became more and more unstable the more of it accumulated. Even a comparatively stable variety of Dust threatened to detonate or break down when on Amity’s scale. Decades of careful research and engineering, designed to drain the crystal’s excess energy as fast as it could be produced, still left the crystal glowing with light and heat.

            The antigravity engine itself ran hot enough to burn. Amity’s heart was a sphere of smooth metal, studded with half-in, half-out cylinders of deep purple gravitic Dust. The core, two meters in diameter, was surrounded by a dozen rings of increasing size. The rings circled the core like a gyroscope, each one moving independently, and the Dust cylinders rose and fell with their motion like pistons. The largest ring remained fixed in place around the equator of the engine. The four largest power conduits from the crystal below fed into it.

            To maintain the delicate balance of systems that kept Amity airborne, the antigravity engine room was three floors tall and surrounded the core. The upper and lower floors intersected the engine rings at the apex and nadir of their arcs, so the centers of the floors were missing to accommodate them. The middle floor was more of a ring, due to the size of the engine. Consoles and readouts sprouted from every free surface but the stairs that connected the three floors and the hallway leading from the middle floor to the rest of Amity.

            All three ‘floors’ were, in fact, platforms. The bedrock of Amity had been cleared well back around the antigravity core, and strong steel cables suspended the three platforms around the core. This allowed the core and the systems surrounding it to shift and sway as the antigravity made minor fluctuations. It also meant that you could lean over the safety railings ringing the platforms and see the Dust crystal glowing below.

            The antigravity engine room was laced with conduits of cooling ice Dust to keep the temperature at a bearable level, but Adam and the other White Fang were still sweating through their armor. Everyone had discarded the outer layers that had been so essential in Atlas’ cold.

            “Status?” Adam asked.

            “We’re all ready here, sir,” a White Fang technician responded, looking up from his console. “When we give the signal, all four of the thrust engines will fail. This engine will cease to reduce Amity’s mass and begin to increase it. It’ll reshape the landscape when it hits.”

            “The backup is in place,” a solider reported. “I’ve hidden four charges on the power conduits. They’re small, hard to spot. Worst comes to worst, we can detonate those and bring Amity down. It won’t be as impactful as if we can hijack the engine, but it’ll knock Amity out of the sky, no question.”

            Adam nodded. “Good. It’s time to get out of here.”

            With that, he stepped away from the antigravity engine and onto the catwalk leading to the exit. The six White Fang members followed him out. Heavy blast doors whirred open to let him through, then closed behind him. Back in the cramped corridors of Amity’s lower levels, Adam removed a radio from his belt.

            “This is Bull,” he began. Everything’s ready here. I’m pulling my team out now.”

            _Speaker here_ , Ilia replied. _We’re ready to evacuate._

 _Rank Seven,_ a third voice spoke. _The turrets on the west side of Amity are being disabled now. You should be able to pass as fleeing technicians long enough to get away._

“Understood, Ma’am,” Adam said. “We’re on our way.”

            With that, he deactivated his radio and began striding through the tunnels. His troops hurried to keep up. “Have the other engine teams checked in?” Adam asked.

            “Two made it back to Speaker, sir. The other two are still radio silent.”

            “Which two?”

            “North and South teams.”

            “Stay alert,” Adam ordered, rounding a corner. “They may have run into trouble.”

            Adam and his White Fang soldiers came face-to-face with Cinder and her team, hurrying down the opposite end of the corridor.

 

            Glynda and Amber hovered back over the edge of Amity stadium. As they landed, Ironwood turned to the parked shuttles and motioned for them to take off. As the first of them lifted into the air, he offered Glynda his hand. She declined and landed back on Amity on her own.

            Amber was breathing hard, but her eyes shone with triumph. “The turrets are destroyed!” she announced. “I feel fantastic. What’s next?”

            “James?” Glynda asked.

            “Atlas security is on its way through the blind spot you opened,” Ironwood replied. “We can handle clearing the stadium, but we could use the help of any and all willing Huntsmen.”

            “I will assist however I can,” Glynda said, “As soon as all my students are evacuated.”

            “I can help!” Amber protested.  
            “You already have. As a Maiden, your duty is to protect the world from the creatures of Grimm, not humanity. Leave the cleanup here to Ironwood and his men. It’s what he does.”

            Ironwood nodded. “We can take it from here. You’ve done good today, but this is a very public location. Despite our best efforts, video of this mess is playing live in all four kingdoms. Remain discreet.”

 

            There was no time to think, only react. Cinder drew her flashbang arrow and loosed it in one smooth motion. The flashbang was really just a collection of whatever Dust traces she could scrounge up, but it would serve the same purpose, creating a bright, loud explosion.

            Adam caught the arrow, snapped it in two, and discarded it.

            “Mercury,” Cinder snapped. In the close confines of the hallway, they could only fight one on one. Mercury slipped past Cinder’s drawn bow and advanced on Adam.

            “Emerald, mess with their leader’s head once Mercury attacks,” Cinder murmured. “Neo, get behind them.”

            Adam strolled forward, one hand on the hilt of Wilt, his sword. “You must be the ones that attacked my teams,” he said. “You don’t look that capable.”

            “We’re just full of surprises,” Mercury quipped.

            “Is that what I’ll find inside you?” Adam asked.

            The two fighters squared off at the center of the hallway. Behind Adam, his troops brandished firearms, but they couldn’t safely fire past Adam at the others.

            Mercury attacked first. He stepped forward and snapped his leg out in a high kick that would have struck Adam in the chin. The bull Faunus drew his blade almost free of its sheath and intercepted the strike. The blade pulsed red.

            Neo stepped forward and blinked behind the White Fang group. Wasting no time, she grasped her umbrella by the point and hooked the handle around the throat of one of Adam’s minions. He let out a choked gasp and dropped his gun, alerting the others.

            Emerald touched Adam’s mind. She focused and began channeling her Aura, altering his perceptions.

            Mercury hopped back, still on one foot, and jumped into the air. He brought his legs up to his chest and kicked outward, firing his greaves as he did. Adam drew Wilt and blocked the strike with both hands. Mercury flew backwards, somersaulted, and landed in a runner’s pose. He charged back towards Adam.

            “Something’s wrong,” Emerald said. “I can plant images in his head, but they don’t stay there. They melt away, like they’re being consumed.”

            Adam’s blade grew steadily brighter. He flattened himself to one side of the hallway as Mercury charged at him, then threw himself at Mercury as he dashed by. Mercury slammed into the wall and grunted. He activated his Semblance and blasted the two of them into the other wall, then the ceiling. Adam let Mercury go, and the Huntsman retreated back down the corridor.

            Behind Adam, the close quarters made fighting back against Neo all but impossible. The petite Huntress lashed out with her umbrella, hooked the back of her opponent’s knee, and yanked forward, sending him toppling forward. As he dropped, Neo brought her knee up to intercept his nose. His mask shattered and he slumped to the ground.

            Neo planted her hands on his back as he fell and propelled herself to her next opponent. She locked her legs around his neck and twisted, sending him stumbling into the side of the corridor. The next White Fang tried to shove past him, so she released her grapple and let the fourth goon shove the third over. He leveled his pistol, but Neo was already lunging forward. The gun fired over her back as she struck him in the throat and gut with the point of her umbrella. Two White Fang remained between her and Adam.

            “He’s fast,” Mercury panted, “but his sword’s too big to use in here. I can bring him down.”

            “Do it fast,” Cinder said, “We have no idea when they’re going to bring down Amity.”

            “Right,” Mercury said, mustering his Semblance. “Fast it is.”

            As Neo finished off the last two White Fang, Mercury charged forward one last time, already glowing with grey-white Aura. As he approached Adam, Mercury released his stored energy and rocketed forward, roaring down the corridor.

            Adam’s lips curled back in a predatory grin. He drew Wilt, bracing the tip in its scabbard with his free hand, and blocked Mercury’s charge. The force slammed Adam backwards, but he braced himself and skidded to one side, getting out of the way and allowing Mercury to charge unimpeded down the corridor. Neo’s eyes widened as he shot towards her and she dropped to the ground, dodging Mercury by inches.

            Adam’s blade glowed bright red. He returned it to its sheath as he advanced on Cinder and Emerald.

            “Stay behind me,” Cinder snapped, drawing her broadhead arrow, the heaviest, most damaging one she owned. She let it fly and Adam flicked his blade free of its sheath just far enough to deflect it. The shaft spun off into a corner of the corridor and Adam came on, illuminated by the red emergency lights and the growing glow of his mask. Cinder split her bow into two blades and stepped forward to meet him.

            Adam squeezed Blush’s trigger, propelling Wilt out of its sheath. He grasped the blade and swung it in a long arc. The sword passed through the stone and metal of Amity’s corridor as though it wasn’t there and continued towards Cinder’s neck.

            Neo materialized out of the air behind Cinder, wrapped her hands around her leader, and teleported her away as Adam’s blade scythed through where she’d been an instant earlier. When his strike gouged through nothing but rock, he continued the motion, whipping it over his head and around as he advanced into range of Emerald.

            With desperate strength, Emerald forced Adam to see an illusion of her dodging left as she darted to the right. His blade cleaved through the ground, but it missed her as she dodged past the White Fang captain and retreated towards her teammates.

            Adam’s blade faded back to its usual dull red. He turned to face the four Huntsmen standing over the defeated White Fang.

             “Get back,” Cinder panted. “Go, move!”

            Adam broke into a run as team CMSN fled down the corridor, towards Amity’s heart. Emerald, the closest to Adam, ran like she never had before. The four Huntsmen tore through the corridor and into the antigravity engine room seconds ahead of Adam. Cinder mashed the Emergency Close button on the blast doors and they slammed shut, cutting him off.

            A heavy impact sounded against the doors, but they held.

            “You were right,” Cinder panted. “More skilled opponents.”

            “Well, we made it,” Mercury said. “Now what?”

 

            The first squad of Atlas security emerged onto the docks. Civilians rushed in to reoccupy the Bullhead transport, and in a few short minutes it departed again, carrying its passengers to safety.

            “Form up and get ready!” Ironwood barked to the soldiers. “We don’t know what they have waiting for us.”

            “Sir,” the ranking officer said, “Atlas Academy is almost completely evacuated. All able instructors and Huntsmen are readying themselves to join us and assist in retaking Amity.”

            Glynda joined the crowd. “You need to get everyone, yourselves included, off of Amity immediately,” she began. “Don’t bother with evacuating Atlas Academy.”

            “Glynda,” Ironwood began, “What do you know that I don’t?”

            “They’re not attacking Atlas Academy, James.”

 

            “They were leaving,” Cinder said. “Whatever they came here to do, they already did it. Spread out and try to find the sabotage.”

            Her teammates nodded and began moving from console to console, checking for explosives or other traps. It didn’t take long for Neo to wave Cinder over to a console.

            _Someone’s been naughty,_ Neo signed. _At a signal, the antigravity generator will start increasing Amity’s mass, not reducing it._

Mercury whistled. “They don’t miss a trick.”

            _Neither do I. They brute-forced this through the safety interlocks. I can just reboot the console –_ she began the process – _and that should purge the command._

            “Good work, Neo,” Cinder said. “If we can hold this room against the White Fang until reinforcements arrive, there won’t be anything they can do.”

            Neo grinned. _Sounds like a plan._

“I found some security feeds!” Mercury called. “Looks like that Fang guy is still guarding the door. I don’t think he can get through, though.”

“Uh, Cinder? What do you make of this?” Emerald asked. Her teammates hurried over.

            “Guys, I don’t think we’re still over Atlas Academy,” Emerald said.

            She jabbed a finger at the navigation console. “They’ve locked in a course. I can’t change it without administrator passwords. According to this, we’re heading for the edge of Atlas’ territory.”

            “Think they’re trying to steal Amity?” Mercury asked.

            “That’d never work,” Emerald replied. “There’s no way they can hope to hold Amity. They need to destroy it as soon as possible, or it’ll be retaken.”

            “Is that their plan?” Cinder asked. “Plant something secret on Amity, then let it be taken back? Listening devices in the VIP booths?”

            Emerald shook her head. “They never got close to the VIP section. Besides, they had to bypass dozens of secure systems to get this far. Look, they locked in this course with administrative access. If Atlas gets Amity back, they’ll take it apart with a fine-toothed comb. The White Fang could never hide something here, especially not with the time they had.”

            _They were planning on crashing Amity,_ Neo reminded them. _We found the bomb on the engines._

“This isn’t a theft,” Emerald continued, “It’s too noisy and loud. They’ll never alter Amity without someone noticing. It’s not a distraction either, not when they’ve invested so much into it. It has to be an attack.”

            “If they’re not attacking Atlas Academy, where are they attacking?” Mercury demanded. “There’s nothing out here!”

            Everything coalesced into place for Cinder. Idly, she noted that she might be better at thinking like the White Fang than was healthy.

            “The Great Ice Cliff. Atlas’s first and best line of defense,” Cinder said. “That’s where we’re going.”

            “Sure, you go far enough off the map anywhere this side of Atlas and you hit the Cliff,” Mercury acknowledged. “That doesn’t explain- oh.”

            “They wouldn’t,” Emerald said.

            _They would._

            “It makes sense,” Cinder acknowledged. “Atlas is panicking right now. Opening a hole in their defenses now stands a good chance of wiping Atlas off the map entirely. Depending on how many Grimm are swarming, the Cliff may already be under threat. Amity could punch a hole right through Atlas’ oldest line of defense.”

            “Not if we stop them here, right?”

           

            Weiss’ shuttle lifted off. Secure in a private room in the back of the shuttle, Wiess resumed her control of the battle, this time from a full computer installed in the shuttle. She checked to make sure the Amity cameras were still transmitting live footage of the attack, then contacted her allies.

            “This is Bishop,” Weiss began. “I’m evacuating now. Status?”

            _About time you checked in, Bishop,_ the reply came. _Rank Seven here. Speaker is away, as is most of the troops, but some trainees managed to retake the antigravity engine. The charges are still in place, but the antigravity hijack has been disarmed. Two of the other engine teams never checked in – we suspect they had something to do with that as well. Bull believes that he can retake the engine room, given time._

Throughout the explanation, Weiss’ face hardened. By the time it was finished, she might have been a statue.

            “No,” she began. “We need to keep our momentum. If your operative has failed that badly, he can suffer the consequences. Move to the next phase.”

            _Understood._

           

            In the crowd, a figure wearing a heavy, all-concealing winter coat and hat removed a small detonator from a pocket. She flipped the cover off the button and stabbed it down.

 

            The bombs went off. Several ounces of volatile Dust exploded next to each of the antigravity engine’s four power conduits. The system was compromised, but the conduits locked themselves down. Seals closed along their lengths and prevented a explosive cascade into the Dust crystal itself.

            The extensive work the SDC had done to renovate Amity was the only reason the entire engine structure didn’t explode, filling the room with red-hot shrapnel. The rings shuddered to a halt one by one, quivering and groaning, but remained intact. The core slowed and stopped as all its Dust cylinders sunk into the core, deactivated. The students remained safe, but the engine was irreparably damaged.

            At the same time, four explosive charges placed at Amity’s secondary engines attempted to detonate. Two did so without incident. A third exploded in the corridor outside the engine room, doing no major damage. The detonator on the fourth bomb activated to no effect – Roman knew his way around a number of weapons, and these explosives were not designed to stop a determined defuser.

            Two engines, one on each side of Amity, shut down. The antigravity field began to fade and the weight of several tons of rock and metal reasserted itself with creeping slowness. Amity’s forward trajectory took on a distinct downward bent.

            If the explosion and core shutdown weren’t enough, there were plenty of flashing displays and blaring alarms to tell Cinder and her team what had happened.

            _Antigravity field failing – restart gravitic generator immediately_ , one screen flashed.

            _Altitude falling, collision likely,_ flashed another.

            Cinder pushed herself to her feet. “Is everyone all right?” she called.

            “We’re okay!” Emerald responded.

            _Temporarily_ , Neo added.

            As if in answer, Adam hacked a glowing cut through the heavy blast doors keeping him out. Either the reinforced metal resisted his strike, or he lacked the charge he had before, because he only made one cut before his sword returned to normal.

            “We’re not getting out that way,” Mercury said. “Ideas?”

            “Can you get us out of here?” Cinder asked Neo.

            _Me?_ Neo replied, incredulous.

            “I’ve seen you teleport through walls before. Amity’s bigger, I know,” Cinder replied. She knelt down, getting eye-to-eye with her teammate. “Neo, if you can’t get us out, I think most of us are going to die. We won’t be able to slip past him like last time, and we can’t take him in a head-on fight. We won’t go easily, but we can’t defeat them all. Not like this.”

            Neo shook her head. _Cinder, I’m sorry. That’s too much. I could take one passenger with me at most, and even then? There’s several meters of hull to get through. It might not work at all._ _Any more than that, and I’m sure nobody would survive._

            Cinder slumped to the ground and folded in on herself. After a minute, she spoke. “Mercury.”

            He chuckled. “Hey, I had a good run. I didn’t think I’d last as long as I did. You’re all right, Cinder. We’ll give them hell for you.”

            “No.”

            “I hope you’re not asking us to surrender,” Mercury began. “They won’t-“

            “It has to be you.”

            “What?”

            Cinder got to her feet. “Your Semblance. Neo’s going to drop the two of you into thin air. There are no trees to catch and break your fall. Neo won’t be able to blink her passenger to the ground after that jaunt. You’re the only one of us who can land safely. It has to be you.”

            “Oh.” Mercury hesitated. “Damn. Sorry, boss.”

            “Wait!” Emerald interjected.

            Cinder turned to her teammate. “I’m sorry, Emerald.”

            “You’re our leader, Cinder. You can’t just sacrifice yourself like this!”

            “We’re out of options, Emerald. There’s nothing else to do.”

            “We can still find another way. You don’t have to do this.”

            “We’re out of time. Amity is falling. This has to happen now.”

            Neo hugged Emerald. _Thanks for everything,_ she signed. _Sorry I got you into this._

            Emerald shook her head. “I made a choice. Didn’t think it would turn out like this, but this beats dying on a rooftop because I robbed the wrong mark. I just, I-“ she gestured at Cinder. “What did you do to deserve this?”

            Cinder sighed. “More than you might think.”

            The alarms took on a more urgent blare. Cinder closed her eyes for a moment. “That’s it, then.”

            Cinder turned to Mercury and pulled him into a hug. “Goodbye,” she said.

            Cinder grabbed Mercury’s jacket with both fists and shoved him backwards, into Neo’s arms.

            The two Huntsmen shattered like glass and were gone.

            The locked door groaned and creaked. Cinder and Emerald spun to face it. Adam drew his sword out of the warped metal. Two cuts, forming two sides of a triangle. One more, and the White Fang would pour through.

            “I meant what I said. I’d rather go out with you, fighting this, then die a poor thief in Vale.”

             “That means more than you know. Thank you,” Cinder smiled.

            Emerald fidgeted. “Look, I realize that this isn’t the best time. Just, if we’re going to die, I’d like to – I’d rather not die without –“

            “Emerald?” Cinder asked.

            The Huntress leaned in and kissed her leader.

            “I’m glad I got to be your teammate,” Emerald said.

 

            For Neo, teleporting was like blinking. The world flickered and she was elsewhere. This teleport was like falling asleep and struggling to wake. Beginning it was easy, ending it was hard. She forced herself onwards, dragging Mercury with her through to the other side. Neo could feel her Aura draining away, dwindling down to nothing.

            It would be easy to give up and stay here, resting in the in-between. The thought of giving up the strain and struggle was so tempting, she nearly lost control entirely. That slip sent panic racing through her veins, and she finished the teleport with one last heave, tearing back into realty. As the cold winter air slapped her in the face, she felt her Aura give way, and then she was gone, drifting out of consciousness.

            Mercury yelled and flailed as he materialized, scant inches away from Amity’s hull. He dropped through the air and crashed into the barrel of one of Amity’s defense turrets. Mercury groaned, then sucked in a breath as he saw Neo plummet past him, limp.

            Mercury dove off the turret after Neo. She wasn’t far ahead of him, but they were both closer to the ground then they should have been. Amity was falling fast. He could use his Semblance to reach her, but Neo was unconscious, and without Aura, Mercury was more likely to shatter her spine then catch her. Instead he fired his greaves, racing to catch her before they all hit the ground.

            The wind whipped at his hair and eyes, forcing him to squint. The snowfield was smooth and featureless, and Mercury couldn’t judge the distance to the ground. With one last blast from his greaves, he reached Neo and wrapped his arms around her, cushioning her neck. He’d carried Neo with his Semblance before, and she hadn’t complained about the ride. There wasn’t any time to do more than hope his Semblance really did protect passengers – he activated his Semblance and blasted them up and forward, following Amity’s path.

            The blast wiped out most of their downward momentum. They began to fall again, but before Mercury could muster the energy for another charge, the duo crash-landed in a snowdrift.

            Mercury pulled himself to his feet, coughing and sputtering. He bent down, grabbed Neo, and pulled her out of the snow. Both of them were covered in powdery snow drifts, and he did his best to brush Neo clean.

            “Come on, come on,” Mercury murmured. “Get your Aura going again, or you’re going to start losing toes. Fingers too. Ears, maybe. Not a good look.”

            Neo didn’t stir. Mercury brushed more snow aside to check her pulse at her neck. Her flesh was cold, but her pulse was strong and regular.

            “If you make me carry you out of here and back to Atlas, you’re going to owe me so many favors. A life debt, really. I’d ask you to carry me out, the next time I get in over my head, but we both know that’ll never happen.”

            Mercury scanned the horizon. Amity was already fading into the distance and Atlas Academy was just a speck on the horizon.

            “I meant that I never get in over my head, but there’s a size joke in there, too. Come on, Neo. You need to get up now. It’s cold out here.”

            Mercury shivered in the cold air. His breath wafted out in clouds of fog.

            “Cinder and Emerald are gone. Stay with me, Neo. Please.”

            Neo stirred and sighed. Her eyes flickered open. Mercury grinned and helped her to her feet.

            “That’s more like it. Come on, get your Aura back. We’ve got a walk ahead of us.”

            Neo’s signing was slow and sloppy. Her fingers didn’t flex with their usual speed.

            _I’m trying. I’m tired._

            “Be tired later. Come on. We’re not done yet.”

            Mercury pointed at the distant shape of Atlas Academy. “We’re probably closer to the Ice Cliff than to Atlas Academy at this point. If that Fang guy survives the crash, he’ll be weak. We can kill him.”

            _What about the Grimm?_

“People have to have noticed where we’re going. We can help hold the Ice Cliff.”

            Neo shook her head, dislodging more snow. Her teeth chattered.

            _Think we’ll get there in time? Walking through knee-deep snow?_

“I have to do something. The White Fang wanted to crash Amity to topple Atlas. If I retreat to Atlas Academy now, I’ll be letting them win. They killed Cinder and Emerald. I say, let’s go kick their teeth in. Stop them from unleashing Grimm on Atlas. For justice and heroism and all that if you like, but mostly for good old fashioned revenge.”

            Mercury bared his teeth. It didn’t look much like a grin at all. “I’m in the mood to hurt something. How about you?”

            Neo took a deep breath. Her Aura reemerged, casting a faint glow across the snow. She dug in the snow for a moment and retrieved her umbrella. With a tug, the blade came free. _Let’s go._

            Just then, a formation of Bullheads flew overhead. Mercury and Neo instinctively ducked, but the aircraft continued on to the Ice Cliff without pause. All except one Bullhead, which broke away from the formation and descended. It hovered, kicking up a small storm of snow from both engines, a few feet from Mercury and Neo.

            The doors opened, revealing Glynda and Amber. With a flick of her wand, Glynda pulled Mercury and Neo into the Bullhead. The doors closed as the pilot took off again.

            “Mister Black, Miss Torchwick,” Glynda began, “Would you care to explain why you were not present at the evacuation?”

 

            Amity’s tip struck the ice a hundred meters from the edge of the Cliff. The gigantic Dust crystal that powered the colosseum threw up a spray of ice and snow, scoring a deep line into the ground. The massive structure rose for a brief moment, then descended with much more force, digging a trench through the hard ice. The ice melted into steam with a hissing roar, yielding more and more ground to the dying giant.

            By the time Amity reached the edge of the Cliff, it had melted nearly halfway into the ground, but the two surviving engines drove it onward. It bulled through an Atlas turret without losing speed, and then it broke free of the Great Ice Cliff and emerged into open air. That last shock proved too much for the Cliff to handle. With a growing roar, the ice all around Amity gave way, collapsing like a sinkhole around the trench Amity had dug. The avalanche of ice and snow crashed into Amity as it pulled away from the Great Ice Cliff. With just two engines, the colosseum couldn’t correct for the heavy blow, and began to tip. The top of the structure dropped to point back towards the Cliff as the bottom rose towards the Grimm hordes massing around the base of the Cliff.

            As the few Atlas security unlucky enough to be assigned to the Cliff raced towards the breach, Ironwood and his Bullheads landed. General Ironwood strode across the snow as the Bullheads behind him disgorged Atlas security and the few Huntsmen who were present at Amity and had the foresight to bring their weapons with them.

            When the avalanche abated, Amity was still and half-buried in snow. It lay dozens of meters from what had been the edge of the Great Ice Cliff. Now, a massive V was missing from the cliff, and the collapsed snow and ice formed a wide ramp leading up to the defenders. A handful of turrets had been destroyed by the collapse of the Cliff, but the majority remained operational. They continued to fire on the growing swarms of Grimm massing around the wreck of Amity, unaware of any change.

 

            “Soldiers, form up at the edge of the Cliff,” Ironwood bellowed. “Hold the steepest advances and keep the Grimm from climbing the sides. Huntsmen, hold the breach. Do not allow one Grimm to reach the top. Anyone with effective ranged weapons, focus on aerial Grimm. Let the turrets soften them up, then finish them off.”

            The massed soldiers and Huntsmen hurried to obey.

            Ironwood motioned to a subordinate. “Get every vehicle, android, and soldier Atlas can spare out here now.”

            When the subordinate left, Ironwood turned to face Glynda and Amber.

            “Can you repair the Cliff?” Ironwood asked Amber.

            “I wouldn’t know where to start,” she replied. “It’s not about power. I don’t think I could, without risking making it worse.”

            Ironwood nodded. “Do what you can to hold them back. Glynda will make sure you don’t do anything too attention-getting.”

           

            Mercury and Neo joined the other Huntsmen. There were perhaps two dozen of them, assigned to hold a long, deep trench against a horde of countless Grimm. Neo shivered violently – Amity was heated, and she wasn’t prepared for the cold of Atlas. Her coat was somewhere back in the stands. One glance around showed her that most of the other Huntsmen were in similar states. There were two who took the time to properly bundle up, and the Atlas Huntsmen were accustomed to the cold, but the others were suffering.

            In the distance, a Grimm screeched. The Huntsmen readied their weapons. She heard Mercury taking ragged breaths to her left and an unknown Huntress to her right cocking and uncocking her revolver.

            Something was wrong. It took Neo a moment to realize what had happened – she shouldn’t be able to hear such quiet noises. Every turret fending off the Grimm advance had shut down at once. The guns were silent. They were, however, still transmitting video back to Atlas.

            “Oh, oh, oh,” one soldier moaned. Another hushed him, but the panic was already spreading through the crowd. Only their discipline kept them in line.

            In the city of Atlas, there was no discipline to help. Seeing a treasured cultural monument attacked was terrible. Seeing the defenses that keep the Grimm away fall was worse. Someone in the crowd screamed. The cry was echoed by another, then another, then everyone was screaming, running, crying. The Grimm surged forward, answering the call.

            The Grimm swarmed over the ice. There were Beowolves, Creeps, Direstalkers, and all the other familiar monsters, but also new creatures, things Neo had never seen or even heard of in Port’s lectures or her textbooks. Strange Grimm dragged themselves across the ice with flat webbed hands and thin, overlong arms. They possessed no armor plates, just slimy hairless white skin. Their eyes were huge and black, with a red center. Their bodies terminated at the waist. When the first one reached the base of the cliff, it tipped back its head and let out a gurgling shriek that exposed its overlarge mouth and long, thin teeth.

            Others advanced more slowly. A great mass of pale flesh and waving tentacles heaved itself out of the black waves and onto the beach. The tentacles were tipped with long barbs, and they flattened themselves to the rocky shore to pull the rest of the Grimm out of the sea. More and more of the massive Grimm emerged, until a gigantic squid rested on the beach. Its main body was armor-plated, as large as a Bullhead, and its bulbous eyes glowed red.

            The Grimm charged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. I would say that this one got away from me, but really, this sequence has been planned and rehearsed far in advance of most of the rest of Volume Three. This is one of the big setpieces that a lot of the rest of CMSN crystallized around. Not to say that it hasn’t been revised plenty as well, of course, but everything has.  
> The squid Grimm is just a giant squid. There’s not a lot to talk about there. The other new Grimm I’ve introduced bears some similarity to the Chupacabra, but I tweaked the design significantly. There’s some Creep in there, some anglerfish, some of a few other things.  
> In other news, I updated the tags, because they desperately needed it.  
> Next chapter: we have a very big fight indeed. See you then.


	12. Volume Three, Chapter Twelve: Check

Volume Three, Chapter Twelve: Check

 

            “I’m glad I got to be your teammate,” Emerald said.

            Before Cinder could formulate a reply, the room lurched and shuddered as Amity impacted the ground. As it skidded towards the edge of the Great Ice Cliff, the suspended platforms around Amity’s now-deactivated core shook and rattled, throwing both Huntresses off balance.

            Cinder wrapped one hand around Emerald’s waist and sank her bow into the metal floor, anchoring them in place. The shaking continued, but they managed to rise to their feet. Dull thuds sounded from the far side of the mangled blast doors separating them from Adam and a few battered White Fang. Cinder took a deep breath.

            “We’re going to get out of here,” she promised. “Your illusions. You managed to get them to work, just at the end there. What changed?”

            “I don’t know,” Emerald said. “He cut at you, and the resistance just fell away. I could get into his head. I kept trying, as we were retreating, but it was already getting fuzzy again.”

            “He drops his guard after he strikes,” Cinder said. “If we can bait him into attacking-“

            “He almost killed you, the last time he attacked. We can just run!” Emerald argued.

            “I have some ideas, after we get back to the stadium,” Cinder began. “Still, if we’re going to get past him, we need to-“

            Amity broke through the edge of the cliff and dropped. The avalanche that followed struck the base of the structure, tipping it so the top of Amity’s inverted cone faced back towards Atlas. In Amity’s heart, the floor rose to a sharp diagonal. Although the platforms were suspended from the ceiling of the room by thick cables, they were also connected to the exit by a wide catwalk Cinder and Emerald found themselves on.

            The catwalk creaked and groaned under the sudden stress, but remained intact. It held the engine room at a sharp diagonal to match the rest of Amity, instead of letting it swing back to flat, under gravity’s influence. Cinder and Emerald were now standing on a sloped metal catwalk. The only thing keeping them from sliding backwards and away from the exit was Cinder’s bow, still planted in the floor.

            “If the Grimm make it in here,” Cinder commented, “They might actually help us handle the White Fang.”

            “How long do you think that’ll take?” Emerald asked.

            “Several minutes.”

            “Oh.”

            Adam made one final cut through the blast doors, forming a ragged triangle. The wedge of reinforced metal slid forward, pulled by gravity and pushed by the White Fang, before popping free of the doors entirely and plummeting towards the Huntresses. Behind the door, Adam stood tall.

 

            “Fire at will!” Ironwood bellowed. “Choose your targets, just make sure nothing makes it to the top!”

            The assortment of Huntsmen opened fire on the attacking Grimm with bullets, arrows, Dust, and whatever else was handy. Glynda waved her wand and pulled handfuls of snow into the air, then compressed them into razor-sharp daggers of ice. With a flick, she sent them shooting through a trio of Beowolves.

            A scorpion-like Grimm, much smaller than a Deathstalker, snapped its tail forward and shot a flurry of spines at the defenders. Neo stepped forward, bringing her umbrella up to deflect the attack. She hopped back, letting the Huntsman she protected get a clear shot at the thing.

            Snowflakes were beginning to drift down from the grey sky. Neo shivered and focused more energy into her Aura. Her jaunt out of Amity had cost her enough to make the temperature a serious concern. If she got in a fight, she’d have to endure the full brunt of Atlas’s weather and focus on defense. She glanced at the sky. Dark, heavy clouds were rolling in along the edge of the Ice Cliff. The weather would only get worse.

            Someone shouted, and Neo refocused on the battle. No point in worrying about that now, or about Cinder- she cut that though off. Focus on the battle. Leave the rest for later.

           

            The wedge of metal crashed into the catwalk ahead of Cinder and Emerald and tumbled towards them, mangling the catwalk as it went. Emerald let Cinder support her as she leaned back, threw her scythes into the far corner of the blast door, and yanked. The slab rotated. Instead of shearing through the catwalk, it rolled away from it and passed Cinder and Emerald by the slimmest of margins. The wedge did not, however, miss the lowest platform in the engine room. It struck the platform and ripped it away, and the two masses of metal crashed into the Dust crystal powering Amity.

            As Cinder and Emerald regained their footing, Adam charged down the catwalk towards them, ready to draw his weapon. The steep slant worked to his advantage, pulling him faster and faster towards his opponents.

            Cinder pulled her bow out of the catwalk and retreated. Emerald opened fire on Adam with her revolvers, but he charged on, heedless of the damage. As he closed, Cinder cut through the catwalk, severing the suspended platforms from the exit. The platforms swung back from their steep angle, carrying them away from the White Fang soldier. Undeterred, Adam jumped as he reached the edge of the catwalk. The platform fell away fast, but it dropped back and down, and Adam was moving quickly.

            As the platforms plummeted, Cinder readied her blades to face Adam and Emerald dove backwards, trying to reach Amity’s antigravity core.

            Adam landed on the edge of the severed catwalk. Before Cinder could capitalize on his unbalanced state and push him off, the platforms slammed into the edge of the room, sending everyone flying. Adam crashed into Cinder and they sprawled to the floor, feet from the edge of the platform. Adam was on top, and he pushed his blade against Cinder’s locked swords, trying to break through her guard.

            Cinder pushed energy into her weapons, heating them up. Adam’s blade began to glow again, and he pushed down with renewed strength.

            “How long can you keep this up?” Adam asked. “You’re just prolonging the inevitable.”

            In answer, Cinder exhaled a plume of fire in his face. He growled and forced his blade another half-inch closer to her neck.

            With a clatter, a cylinder of deep purple Dust landed next to the struggling combatants.

            “Stop!” Emerald shouted. “Move, and I’ll blow the canister.”

            The Huntress stood atop the deactivated antigravity engine that had kept Amity afloat. In one hand, she held another of the canisters of gravity Dust that had powered it. In the other, she held her revolver.

            Adam eyed the Dust, then refocused on Cinder.

            “If you were willing to blow us all up, you’d have done it by now,” the Faunus said. “Don’t bother with threats if you’re not willing to follow through.”

            With a grunt, he forced the blade closer to Cinder. It was almost touching her neck, now.

            “Run,” Cinder panted. “I can stall him.”

            Instead, Emerald jumped from the core and sprinted towards Adam and Cinder. She yelled and opened fire with her revolver, whittling down his Aura. As she approached, Adam straightened, returning his sword to its sheath. When Cinder slashed at him, his boot lashed out and caught her in the ribs, stunning her.

            Just before Emerald entered his range, a hook shot past Adam’s head, reversed direction, and caught him around the neck. Emerald skidded to a halt as Adam slashed out, missing her and Cinder by inches as he was hauled back into the air.

            Roman Torchwick stood in the doorway out of the engine room, bracing his cane with the remnants of the blast door.

 

            Mercury jumped into the trench Amity had carved through the ice, straight towards the river of Grimm making their way up to the defenders. He landed on an Ursa, and pushed off again, firing his boots through the base of its neck as he jumped away. The recoil boosted him most of the way back to the top of the trench, and he cleared the last meter with a boost from his Semblance. The massive Grimm thrashed from side to side with pain, slamming into the side of the trench and its fellow Grimm.

            The damaged, melted ice cracked under the fresh assault, and Mercury lost his footing as the cracks raced across the ice to where he stood on the edge. As he lost his footing and went toppling backwards, Neo stepped in with her umbrella and caught him by the collar. It hurt, but it bought him the time he needed to fire his greaves and hop back to more solid ground.

            Behind them, the ice cracked and collapsed, cascading down on the Grimm in a miniature avalanche. When it abated, the Grimm were slowed, but the edge of the trench was now more of a slope – the kind of thing a Grimm could climb, given a chance.

            “That’s going to keep happening,” Mercury panted. The wind was picking up now, spraying the defenders with snow and snatching words away, but Neo got the gist of it.

            _Not much we can do about it_ , she replied.

            Mercury grinned. “Bet I can kill more of them than you.”

            _You’re on._

 

            Adam grabbed the cable and held on as he swung back and forth below the blast doors. He sheathed his sword and began to climb the cable, pulling himself up hand-over-hand. Roman waved at Emerald and Cinder, indicating Melodic Cudgel’s cable. Cinder rose to her feet and fired an arrow. It whizzed past the cable by inches. Adam continued to climb.

            Cinder nocked another arrow, aimed, and released. This one clipped the edge of the cable, but it remained intact. Adam was getting closer to Roman now, making good time up the cable. Roman tried to spool out more cable, but there was no more to go.

            “I’ve got you,” Emerald said, and threw one of her scythes into the ceiling. It stuck, and she grabbed hold of Cinder before swinging them out across the empty space between the exit and the antigravity core. As they reached the apex of their arc, Cinder loosed one final arrow. This one hit the cable dead-on and severed it, sending Adam plummeting downwards with the handle of Melodic Cudgel. Below him, the searing-hot Dust crystal that powered Amity waited. He did not cry out.

            Cinder stowed her bow and took hold of Emerald, freeing her to throw her second scythe into the remaining length of catwalk before the exit. Roman emerged through the hole in the blast doors to help reel them in, and before long they were on solid ground once more.

            “Thanks for the save,” Cinder said. “We were planning on rescuing you, actually.”

            Roman chuckled. “I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. I am glad you were there, though. Fair fights have never been my forte.” Roman grew serious again. “Neo – you were her teammate. Where is she?”

            “She’s out,” Cinder reassured him. “Safer than we are, right now.”

            Roman nodded. “Thank you. I’m glad she’s safe.”

            “How are we getting out of here?” Emerald asked. “Amity’s crashed. The exterior has to be covered in Grimm right now.”

            “I actually haven’t thought this far ahead,” Cinder admitted. “I do have some ideas, though. And Emerald?”

            Emerald looked up at her. “Cinder?”

            Cinder smiled at her. “When we get out of this? We’ll talk.”

            “I’d like that.”

 

            Ironwood emptied his revolver, sending six Grimm tumbling backwards. They were trampled under the swarm of Grimm pushing steadily onward. More Grimm were dying in this battle than had died against the Cliff in the past year. As a whole, the Grimm weren’t stupid. If they were willing to throw their lives away at this, then either they were truly desperate to get to the top, which was possible, or they were trying to distract from something else.

            There wasn’t any time to worry about that, though. Atlas was on full alert. Truth be told, all four kingdoms would be gearing up for an attack. All he could do was focus on holding the breach.

            As he reloaded, he heard an ear-piercing shriek, and the first Nevermore dropped through the cloud cover. It flared its wings out, swooped low over the embattled Huntsmen, and sprayed a volley of razor-sharp feathers at the defenders. Many feathers missed, striking the ice, the trench, and even other Grimm, but a handful of Huntsmen were struck or skewered by the attack. A bolt of lightning snapped out of the clouds and struck it as it began to pull up, blasting it into a thousand wisps of smoke, but two more were already beginning their runs.

            The cloud cover was working against them, Ironwood realized. Without the turrets, the Grimm were able to make their approach completely undetected. As he opened fire on one Nevermore, knowing the bullets wouldn’t make a difference, another bolt of lightning struck it out of the sky. The third monstrous bird finished its attack and began to gain altitude again before a tremendous gust of wind slapped it out of the sky and brought it crashing to the ice.

            Amber rose into the air, eyes glowing with power. She raised her staff and fired a jet of flame into the Grimm still attempting to force their way up the trench. The fire drove them back, but the heat and the feathers further weakened the ice, and it gave way. The ice collapsed into a second avalanche, burying the Grimm striving to climb the Cliff. Up above, the ground collapsed around the trench and spread outwards in all directions like a sinkhole, as more and more ice gave way.

            Many Huntsmen were able to get clear in time. Those already injured by the Nevermore, those who didn’t have an ally to carry them out, dropped into the roiling snow and vanished.

            When the clouds of snow cleared, the trench had become a semicircle, perhaps a hundred meters in diameter, sloping gently down to the Grimm below.

            “Everyone to the breach!” Ironwood bellowed. “Hold them back!”

            Amber floated towards the Grimm as the storm intensified around her. Anything that got too close was shredded by a hail of razor-sharp ice shards, carried by the howling wind. She struck out with lightning and great gusts of her razor wind, but there was too much ground to cover. The Grimm spread out around her, flowing past to either side. If they were brave before, they were fearless now.

            The Grimm stormed up the ramp, heedless of their losses. They crested the Ice Cliff, and all of a sudden it was all melee, close-quarters in the freezing air. Mercury lashed out with a roundhouse kick that slew a Beowolf, ducked under the next one’s swipe, and launched himself into it, crashing through a cluster of Creeps. He dispatched the thing with a strike to the neck and retreated towards Neo, who was steadily backing away from a Boarbatusk. It spun towards her, kicking up a spray of ice and snow, and she dove out of the way. Neo snapped her blade out as she dodged, which should have skewered the Grimm nicely. Instead, the Boarbatusk clipped her shoulder as it passed, the blade scraped off an armor plate, striking no flesh, and Neo was thrown back into the snow.

            Mercury blasted to her side and dispatched the Boarbatusk. He panted, gasping for breath. Neo struggled to her feet, and he stepped next to her, facing the Grimm back-to-back. Other Huntsmen were clustering together against the Grimm, but there were none nearby.

 

            Cinder, Emerald, and Roman emerged into the VIP box. Weiss had left in haste, and the promised tournament rewards were still in the room, although they had been strewn about in the crash. The glow of Dust could be seen far more clearly in the emergency lighting, and the room was bathed in the dull glow of countless crystals, vials, and bullets of Dust. The box was now in the uppermost part of Amity, and “down” was halfway between the floor and the window overlooking the stadium.

            Outside, Grimm crawled and flew over the stadium, but very few of them stopped to investigate the downed structure. The fear and panic emanating from Atlas was far too tempting a target.

            Emerald stooped down and scooped up a speedloader of revolver bullets from the carpet. Each one pulsed faintly green.

            “Fancy,” she commented.

            Roman grabbed a bandolier of red Dust vials draped over a seat. “I’m starting to think we’ve got a chance at this,” he commented. “This isn’t going to help us get back to the Cliff, though. If we hunker down here, the Grimm will leave us be for a while, but not forever.”

            Cinder ignored the Dust scattered across the room. She maneuvered to the corner, where a suit of armor rested in a cracked display case.

            “One thing at a time,” she said.

 

            The storm peaked as the Grimm spread out across the ice. Here and there, pockets of defenders remained. Amber stood at the center of a ring of dead Grimm at the edge of the breach. Ironwood and a handful of Atlas soldiers stood with their backs to a deactivated turret, cutting down any Grimm that approached. Elsewhere, though, the Grimm spread unchecked across the ice. More and more climbed the ramp Amity had carved through the Ice Cliff. They never stopped.

            Mercury and Neo stood back-to-back, facing a pack of Beowolves. They snarled at the Huntsmen, but did not attack. When the Alpha Beowolf pushed through their ranks, Mercury understood why. He glanced past it, looking for other survivors, but the storm made it almost impossible to see. He could make out the glow of Amber’s powers in the distance, a few closer flashes of firearms or Dust, but no people. Amber – that was a question for another time. She wouldn’t be helping him now.

            As the Alpha Beowolf loped forwards, he readied himself for a last charge. If he struck fast, he might be able to kill it before it could get its teeth into him. It lunged, he struck, and his blow bounced off its side. Its paw crashed into him, sending him flying back into Neo and them both crashing into the snow.

            Mercury fought to his feet, feeling his head ring. His legs gave out under him, and he slumped back to the ground, but he could see the Alpha approach through the blinding snow. It moved forward, taking its time. Its jaws yawned wide.

            Something glinted at the back of its throat. Mercury frowned, trying to focus. The Beowolf opened its mouth wider, then collapsed to the ground. A long, thin spear of ice protruded from the back of its head.

            With a thunderclap, the snow was blown away, revealing the whole of the battlefield. Grimm collapsed to the ground in droves with spikes of ice through their chests or heads. Mercury followed the spikes back and saw someone approaching, gliding over the ice.

            She wore thick white furs that concealed much of her body, but her hands and face were uncovered. As she approached, spears of ice formed from the air around her hands and rocketed forward, each one striking its target unerringly.

            She came to a halt at the edge of the breach. The Grimm had faltered when so many of their brethren died, but they redoubled their attack when she came into view. She shouted, thrusting her hands forward, and the ice exploded outward before her, trapping the Grimm within. In moments, the breach was repaired.

            The few remaining Grimm were easily dispatched by the surviving Huntsmen. Ironwood and a few Huntsmen went to meet the new arrival. Glynda made her way across the ice to join Amber, again accompanied by a handful of Huntsmen. Mercury and Neo met up with the remainder, those too tired, wounded, or intimidated to speak to their impossibly powerful saviors.

 

            Ironwood padded across the snow. Covering this up was going to be a _nightmare._ Better than everyone involved dying, but not by much, especially if the wrong people found out. A problem for later, he decided, as he reached the Winter Maiden, Rime. The Huntsmen and Atlas soldiers who accompanied him stopped well short of her, giving the two of them some space to talk.

            “Rime,” Ironwood said, stepping forward to shake her hand. “Your timing is impeccable.”

            The Winter Maiden ignored the hand. “What happened here, James? How did you let it get this bad?”

            Rime stepped away, looking out across the Great Ice Cliff. “What would’ve happened if I hadn’t been here?”

           

            Across the ice, Amber sunk to the snow. Despite the cold, she was sweating profusely and gasping for breath.

            Glynda helped her to her feet. “You did very well today,” she said. Other Huntsmen gathered around her, unsure if they should congratulate Amber or leaver her be.

 

            Mercury and Neo leaned on each other as they rejoined the other Huntsmen.

            “Ready to go home?” Mercury asked.

            Neo nodded. _Juniper will be wondering about us,_ she started, then cut herself off.

 

            The better part of a kilometer away, a little snow shifted atop a reactive-pattern Dust cloak. Right now, the cloak was set to white. A red rifle barrel protruded from below the cloak.

            “I can see her face,” Ruby said. “It’s definitely her. Everyone ready?” Her earpiece buzzed in response.

            _Rank Seven. I’m in her crowd._

_Crucible here. Let’s wrap this up, already!_

“Okay,” Ruby said. “You’re good to go, Blake.”

            _Rank seven, moving to rank eight,_ Blake replied.

 

            Blake shucked her outer layer of heavy winter clothing and stole towards the Winter Maiden. Gambol Shroud slid from its sheath with a whisper. Blake placed a hand on Rime’s shoulder, spun her around, and plunged the blade into her chest.

            She gasped. Blake pulled her close.

            “Focus on me now,” Blake whispered. “Focus on me.”

 

            Ruby adjusted her rifle and fired. The shot punched through Amber’s shoulder. She howled. As Amber dropped to the ground, Yang shed her winter gear. Beneath the thick clothes, her right arm was pale white past the elbow, where it disappeared beneath the sleeves of a jacket. Black veins ran up the arm, wrapping around each other like vines around a tree. In her hand, she held a small Grimm, shaped like a beetle. Its mandibles chattered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Salem can restore and replace a great deal. Arms aren't that difficult.  
> Amber gets more to do here, but she seems to have passed off Immediate Maiden Death Syndrome to her Winter counterpart. Sorry, Rime.  
> There's not much else to say, here. I'll have more to talk about after next chapter, when things have settled down a but, but right now things are about to get very hectic indeed.


	13. Volume Three, Chapter Thirteen: Checkmate

Volume Three, Chapter Thirteen: Checkmate

 

            Blood on the snow. Mercury scans the scene, taking in everything in one frozen moment. The new arrival is dying. The sword is through her chest and into her heart – she has seconds to live. Ironwood is nearby, already shrugging off the shock. Let him handle her. Amber is down. The shot’s not fatal. Glynda is protecting her from the other woman – _what’s wrong with her arm?_ – Poor odds. She might need help. The sniper’s too far away for him to reach. Neo’s standing just behind him, though, and she’s exhausted. Can’t leave her. His breath comes in ragged pants. To be completely honest, he’s not ready for an extended battle any more than she is. It’s bitter cold, up on the Great Ice Cliff, and even if the storm is over, the weak sunlight isn’t warming him at all.

            Mercury made his decision and got moving. The frozen clarity faded far too soon, adrenaline no longer able to keep him moving or thinking fast enough. Neo raced beside him, stumbling through the thick snow towards Glynda and Amber.

            Amber lay in the snow, one hand pressed to her shoulder. Glynda stood over the downed Maiden, trading blows with Yang Xiao Long. The witch made short, whipping chops with her riding crop that seemed to carry little weight, but each blow staggered her opponent and sent snow flying away in great gouts. She appeared to neglect her defenses, but every blow that would go crashing into her ribs or gut slammed into a shimmering forcefield of purple runes that Glynda manifested just in time to deflect the attacks. None of the fields took the blows head-on: she formed each one at a sharp angle to deflect the force of the attacks away.

            Where Glynda was razor-sharp precision, Yang was raw power. Locked around her left forearm was a heavy yellow bracer. Two gun barrels protruded from the front, and she made good use of them, hammering away at her opponent’s defenses. For all the power of her left arm, she led with her right, a thing of bone-white flesh and jet-black veins. Nestled in her elbow was a Grimm, beetle-shaped with long mandibles. Blows with her left made Glynda’s shields flare. Blows with her right shattered them. The flashes of gunfire and glowing runes shone off her sunglasses.

            Glynda could not retreat, not with Amber to protect. She stood her ground, matching Yang’s attacks blow-for-blow with her own telekinesis. Another sniper round split the air, flying straight at her head. She flicked her crop outward and deflected the shot into her opponent’s head. Yang’s head snapped down into her chest, and the force of the blow threw her into a spin. She fired her gauntlet as she turned, reversing her momentum and bringing her elbow crashing up into Glynda’s nose.

            Glynda recoiled, stumbling back over Amber’s body. Yang took the opportunity and lunged, only for Glynda to catch her mid-air and hurl her further, over both Amber and Glynda, to land in a snowbank. Yang pulled herself out of the snow, a fierce grin on her face. The residual power on her shoulders and hair was melted by the time she regained her footing and boiling away before she rejoined the fight.

 

            When Gambol Shroud slid into Rime, Ironwood froze.  For one terrible moment, as the sound of the sniper rifle split the battlefield and Amber screamed out, he realized he’d been paying attention to the wrong pieces on the board altogether. Then there was no more time for thought. His revolver was in his hand and he was in range of the assassin. No fancy tricks. He punched her in the temple with the barrel of his gun and pulled the trigger at the same moment. Blake stumbled back, pulling her sword clear of Rime’s body.

            Ironwood hit her with a haymaker. Blake flickered and vanished. There was a whisper of noise behind him. Without looking, he spun his revolver and fired backwards. The shot struck home, so he turned and fired twice more. The first shot struck, the second passed through her as she turned to shadows and vanished. This time he was ready, and he pummeled her as she reappeared. Blake caught the blow on her sword, but it occupied her enough for him to land another shot, then a solid kick.

            Blake skidded back across the snow. The edges of her form flickered in and out, giving Ironwood all the warning he needed. She reappeared above him, driving her blade down towards his chest. He caught the blade with his right hand and shot her again with his left. Blake’s Aura flickered and fizzled. Ironwood put the revolver to her chin and squeezed the trigger again.

            The revolver clicked. In the silence, Rime gave a quiet sigh. Glowing white energy flooded out of her and into Blake in a torrent. Ice formed on every surface around Blake and Ironwood. He tried to release her sword and found he could not – Ice was thick on his arm, spreading up past his elbow.

            Blake grinned. Her slitted pupils were almost invisible behind the actinic glow of her eyes. “My turn,” she purred. A handful of especially brave or stupid Huntsmen yelled and charged at Blake. She pulled Gambol Shroud free of Ironwood’s frozen grip and turned to face them.

 

            The Amity soldiers holding the Cliff dove into cover when Ruby’s sniper shot rang out. They knew better than to try to fight the assassins attacking Glynda and Ironwood, but the distant sniper was another matter. Valdes, their scout, peered out from behind one of the inactive turrets with a pair of binoculars. When the second shot sounded, she saw the muzzle flash.

            “Got him,” she said, dropping back into cover. “He’s about one click away, fifteen degrees to the left. Camouflaged.”

            Malik and Decker nodded and readied their rifles. Moving as one, they leaned out from their cover, lining up shots.

            The ice creaked. There was a slithering noise, flesh sliding over flesh. Banks had enough time to yell, “Incoming!” before the first tentacle shot over the edge of the Great Ice Cliff and wrapped around Muratova. She yelled and opened fire even as it pulled her back over the edge and out of view. As the massive squid Grimm levered its bulk over the edge of the Cliff, dozens of webbed hands slapped onto the top of the Cliff. A swarm of the legless Grimm poured over the ice, needle-sharp teeth shining in the light and bulbous eyes glowing red.

            “Help!” Banks yelled.

 

            Mercury and Neo saw Glynda deflect the sniper round into her opponent, then throw her through the air like a toy. They skidded to a halt. One of the first things Huntsmen learned was that some fights were simply beyond their ability to handle. The duel between Glynda and Yang had every hallmark of being one such fight. They joined the other Huntsmen facing off against the giant squid Grimm and the smaller feeder Grimm.

 

            Locating the transport the White Fang had entered Amity with was the hard part. It wasn’t locked or otherwise secured – the Fang hadn’t expected anyone to know they were there until it was too late. A few Grimm had entered the hanger, but Cinder dispatched them without difficulty.

            “They needed more transports than this to bring everyone in,” Emerald said.

            “Well, everyone with any sense fled by now,” Roman replied, dumping two cases of Dust into the passenger seat. He wore a bandolier of red Dust crystals.

            Cinder brought up the rear. She was clad in the armor Weiss had promised to the victor of Amity’s tournament. The suit was built with a reactive Dust weave that allowed it to change shape, taking on a number of preset forms. She wore it over her red dress, letting it take the form of a number of matte black armor panels.

            “Can you fly it?” she asked.

            Roman shrugged. “It’s a cargo transport. It doesn’t fly, it lumbers.”

            Cinder rolled her eyes. “Can you get us to the Cliff?”

            “There’s a lot of Grimm in the way, if you hadn’t noticed,” Roman replied. “This thing can’t outrun them, and it sure can’t outfight them.”

            “I don’t hear the turrets,” Emerald noted. “That’s not a good sign.”

            “We can’t stay here,” Cinder said. “Even assuming there aren’t any more White Fang on the way, sooner or later the Grimm will attack us, or Amity’s core will blow, or something else will happen. We need to get out of here, and the sooner the better. Me and Emerald can protect the transport. Just get us over the Cliff.”

            Roman nodded. “I’ve heard worse plans. Keep us in one piece, and I’ll get us where we’re going.” He readied Melodic Cudgel with a disappointed glance at its missing handle and headed for the transport’s cockpit.

            “This thing only has the one exit ramp,” Emerald said.

            “Yes.”

            “We’re not going to be able to fight off all the flying Grimm by leaning out of the transport and shooting at them, are we?”

            “We are not.”

            Emerald opened her mouth, then closed it again. There really didn’t seem to be anything to say.

 

            Mercury and Neo engaged the massive squid Grimm and the smaller feeders that surrounded it. The smaller creatures were clearly more at home in the water than on land, with their webbed hands and absent legs, but they were smart enough to climb the Cliff instead of charging up through the trench, where so many other Grimm had died. Individually, they possessed little power, but when three or five or eight of them swarmed a human, that didn’t matter very much at all. Their jaws were far, far stronger than their bony frames suggested, and crammed to bursting with razor-sharp teeth.

            Mercury kicked one out of his path, then shot two more charging him. Neo skewered another feeder as it burst from the snow in front of her, and then they were through the first line and with the Amity soldiers and a few ragged Huntsmen. The squid Grimm was sturdy enough to absorb their blows with little trouble, but its flailing tentacles were well-telegraphed. As Mercury assessed the situation, three feeders erupted from below the snow, latching onto and immobilizing a Huntsman carrying a pair of batons. Before he could tear them off, the squid struck him with a barbed tentacle, killing the feeders and sending the Huntsman flying through the air, Aura shattered.

            Fatigue was getting to them, Mercury realized. The battle had gone on for too long in weather far too cold. Before long, they’d be dead on their feet.

            “Ready!” Mercury called to Neo. She nodded, gritting her teeth, and darted past him. Mercury flexed his legs, cycling through his loaded rounds to an explosive shell. He fired, striking the massive Grimm in its eye. The thing writhed, thrashing its tentacles and exposing a mouth nestled at their base. It whipped a tentacle down at him. Mercury saw the barbed tip glint in the light before he threw himself to the side, letting it crash down where he’d been standing. Neo stepped up, swinging her blade up with all her might as the tentacle came down. She severed it at the halfway point, and the tentacle dropped to the ground, flailing in the snow. More feeders charged forward, snapping at her, and she retreated, defending herself as best she could.

            The Grimm pulled itself further forward, making short attacks at anyone who ventured too close. A thick black liquid began to drip from its maw. It convulsed once, then spat, spraying a jet of the stuff across the snow. The Huntsmen and soldiers scattered and the spray struck only snow, which it began to eat through, vanishing below the surface of the snowfield with a low hiss.

            More feeders moved in, taking advantage of their disruption. They died as fast as they came, but then the squid made another attack in earnest, downing more soldiers and Huntsmen. The Grimm continued forward, preparing another spray of its acid.

 

            Roman hauled back on the controls. The battered transport rose into the air from the corner of the hanger it slid into when Amity crashed. With a twist, he got it pointed out the open hanger doors. On the roof of the transport, Cinder and Emerald stood back-to back. One of Emerald’s chains was wrapped around their legs. One end was wrapped around Emerald’s wrist and the sickle on the other was jammed into the roof of the transport. Roman jammed the throttle down and the vehicle accelerated out of the hanger and into the icy cold.

            The wind whipped at the Huntresses, but Emerald’s chain held firm. Cinder squinted into the wind, bow at the ready. Emerald clutched her one free revolver, unwilling to fire and attract attention. As Roman pulled the transport into a steep climb for the cliff, the circling aerial Grimm took notice. A flock of Griffons dove for them, shrieking. Cinder raised her bow and opened fire, shooting them out of the air one by one. The third one she downed was close enough that it crashed into the side of the transport as it fell, and then the fourth raked its talons along the side of the craft, tearing a long gouge out of the hull.

            Emerald twisted around as best she could and opened fire. She was using the enhanced Dust rounds she’d taken from the SDC’s Dust rewards, and each shot impacted with an elemental effect. The remainders of the flock scattered around the transport, buffeting and clawing at it without doing serious harm. One Griffon, though, flew over the top. Cinder saw its razor-sharp talons extend and lifted her blow to block the strike. It locked its claws around her bow and yanked, pulling her and Emerald off their feet.

            If not for the chain connecting them to the transport, they would have been torn off entirely. As it was, they slid across the roof almost to the edge before Emerald shot the Griffon and it released Cinder. Below them, the transport bucked and shuddered. Roman yanked hard on the throttle, rising up and away from the Griffons circling around for another attack. As Emerald and Cinder regained their feet, they caught sight of the Great Ice Cliff for the first time since Amity crashed.

            Rime had repaired the Cliff before her death, but with the turrets still deactivated, the Grimm were steadily ascending the walls. One massive squid Grimm had just reached the top, and was lashing at a squad of Amity soldiers unlucky enough to have gotten too close.

            Cinder and Emerald brought down three more Griffons before the remainder decided to find easier prey and dove away. Roman wrestled with the controls as they rose up to the level of the Cliff, then past it. From their high position, they could see the entire battlefield.

            Three battles were raging on the ice below. Glynda matched blows with a woman in a ragged brown overcoat with a heavy yellow gauntlet. A ragged group of Huntsmen and soldiers rallied against the latest Grimm advance, led by the massive squid Grimm. Finally, Ironwood and most of the Huntsmen battled against a woman in a black-and-white outfit with long flowing black hair. She flickered between them, leaving shadowy afterimages in her wake. With a touch, she froze an opponent solid, but she preferred to wreak havoc with her weapon. The long ribbon connecting her to her blade seemed to possess a life of its own as it lashed about, felling foes and wrapping around limbs to pull them off balance.

            A Nevermore dropped out of the sky above them and unleashed a burst of feathers down at the Huntresses. Cinder and Emerald dove out of the way, pulling Emerald’s sickle free of the roof. They dove off the side of the transport and Emerald slammed her sickle into the vehicle’s side, anchoring them again. The feathers punched through the roof and lodged there, half-in and half-out. A few especially good shots stabbed the engines. The craft coughed, bucked, and began to drop.

            “No, no no,” Roman muttered, fighting with the controls. One engine sputtered and died entirely, and they began to fall in earnest. He yanked at the throttle with everything he had, trying to keep the craft in the air. The transport roared over the edge of the Great Ice Cliff, shuddered, and dropped out of the sky. Emerald yanked her sickle out of the hull, letting her and Cinder drop to the snow. Roman wrenched the controls, throwing the dying craft into a semi-directed spin, then kicked the door open and threw himself out of the craft.

 

            The last Huntsman collapsed to the ground. Blake’s ears twitched, and she leaned to one side as Ironwood dove at her. He sailed past her, hit the ground, and rolled, coming back to his feet. He’d freed himself from the ice, but his revolver was still frozen and unusable. He wielded it like a club as he advanced again. Blake extended her arm and focused on her new abilities. As Ironwood stepped forward, the ice he hadn’t removed began to creep up his arm again. He managed two swings before his arm was immobilized, and another three with his left before that was trapped too.

            Blake slotted a fresh clip into Gambol Shroud as Ironwood froze over. He had enough Aura left to protect him from the cold for some time, but that wasn’t a problem.

            “Goodbye, General,” Blake whispered as she took aim with Gambol Shroud.

 _“Blake, look out!”_ her earpiece crackled.

            The new Winter Maiden turned in time to see the transport dropping out of the sky towards her. She threw up her arms as it struck her, smashing her away from Ironwood and across the ground. The ruined craft came to a halt, buried in a snowdrift. Then the Dust Roman left in the cockpit exploded. Of Blake, there was no sign.

            Roman got to his feet, leaning heavily on his cane, and saw Neo fighting the Grimm squid. He rushed across the ice to her.

 

            Cinder and Emerald found their footing. “Glynda or Ironwood?” Emerald asked. Cinder glanced between the two struggling leaders. “Help Glynda – distract her opponent,” Cinder decided. “I’ll thaw out Ironwood and we’ll overwhelm her. Stay out of a direct fight.” Emerald nodded and took off across the snow. Cinder hurried to Ironwood and pressed her hands to the ice, focusing her Semblance on thawing him without cooking him. As soon as he could talk, Ironwood spat out a mouthful of water and spoke.

            “Leave me and help Amber. Keep her safe. Do you understand?”

            “I can have you free in a minute-“

            “That’s an order!” Ironwood roared. “I’ll get myself free. Get to her _now_ , and keep her safe.”

 

            Another feeder lunged for Neo. She opened her umbrella in its face. It caught the edges of the umbrella and began to scrabble and bite at the fabric. She spun, struggling with the added weight, and smashed the Grimm into a second feeder creeping up behind her. It let go, and she took advantage of the momentary respite to pull her blade free of the dying Grimm she had lodged it in. The squid Grimm was bleeding from dozens of small wounds, but nobody had managed to inflict another wound as significant as the severed tentacle. Given how many more of the things it had, that wasn’t all that effective.

            Neo made a decision. She jabbed Mercury, who stood beside her. It was a quick way to tell him she wouldn’t be watching his flank. She blinked forward a few meters and appeared next to the squid a moment later. The wave of dizziness that washed over her was worse than she thought, but she held herself together enough to to drive her blade into its good eye. It screamed, pulled its tentacles back, and grabbed her by the waist.

            “Neo!” Mercury yelled as it hoisted her into the air, but a desperate assault of feeders kept him from getting to her.

 

            Glynda swatted another bullet away from her and into Yang. Ruby hissed a breath out through her teeth. She adjusted her aim and fired again. This time, the bullet targeted Amber. Glynda tracked the shot, saw the destination, and made a decision. Beacon’s headmistress leapt into the air, extending her crop. She just brushed the bullet, but that was enough to send it spinning off-course. The shot struck snow, not Amber. Before Glynda could turn, Yang was there, slamming her fist into her back. The blow hurt, but not enough to stop her. Glynda created a bubble of force around her and blasted it outwards, buying her some breathing room –

            Yang hit her again, this time with her right arm. Her Aura dropped into dangerous levels. Glynda grit her teeth and struck out with a blast of force, aimed as best she could. Yang weaved to one side and hit her twice more, one-two, in the ribs. She reeled backwards, gasping for breath, and pulled everything she had into a shield. Yang’s next strike bounced off it harmlessly, and she drew her riding crop back, pulling the shield into a thin spear of force. Yang brought her arm up, but she wouldn’t land the hit in time. Glynda prepared to release the attack.

            Ruby shot her in the back. Concentration broken, Glynda’s grip on the telekinetic spear faltered and failed. A blast of force exploded outwards, blowing her off her feet and shattering her Aura. Yang was forced backwards, but kept her feet. She took a second to verify Glynda wasn’t getting up again, then turned her attention to Amber. The parasite Grimm slithered down into her palm.

 

            As the squid Grimm opened its mouth wide, Neo stabbed down at the tentacle restraining her. It shivered, but did not let her go. Neo struggled, but she was just too exhausted for another teleport. The Grimm opened its mouth still wider.

            A bandolier of glowing red Dust crystals sailed through the air and into the Grimm’s gaping maw. Neo had a half second to realize this before Mercury’s greaves sounded out, a shell split the air, and the Grimm exploded.

            The squid Grimm was mostly body, with a dozen or more tentacles extending from one end. Most of its tentacles were gone, but its body went skidding across the ice, still in possession of a trio of tentacles. It slammed the tentacles into the ground, arresting its skid inches from the edge of the Cliff.

            Mercury activated his Semblance and slammed into the Grimm, tearing it free of the ice and shoving it off the cliff. It teetered on the edge for a moment, then plummeted. He collapsed to the ground, exhausted, but the feeders were fleeing and dying, and in moments none remained to menace him.

            When the bandolier exploded, Neo was thrown through the air. She opened her umbrella, but the sudden deceleration tore it from her hands. She dropped several meters to the ground, Aura drained.

            Roman caught her.

            “Hey there, kiddo,” her uncle said. “You okay?”

            Neo smiled and nodded, hugging him tight.

 

            Illusions won’t do much when your opponent isn’t fighting anyone. Emerald could have made the brawler think Amber was fleeing, but she had seen the sniper shot. The sniper would alert her partner to the deception in moments. No other options, then. Yang was facing away from her, focused on Amber. Emerald closed the distance and drove both her sickles into Yang’s back. Her Aura was strange and ephemeral: Emerald pierced right through it. She pulled, turning harsh stab wounds into great gouges. Yang sunk to her knees as the wounds registered. Her sunglasses tumbled off into the snow. Emerald brought her sickles around, going for the neck to finish the job. As she set the blades against her skin, she hesitated. _Do I need to kill her?_

            Yang arched her back and screamed. There was little human in that scream: an ear-piercing, high call. She exploded in a blaze of flame and heat, sending Emerald flying backwards.

            Emerald regained consciousness as she registered the icy snow seeping through her clothes. She was flat on her back, clothes smoldering and smoking, Aura drained to the point of failure. Somehow, though, she was still holding her revolvers. As she tried to rise, hoping to regain her footing before the pain could register, a wave of heat washed over her. Emerald turned to see her opponent sprinting for her, with orange-white fire licking at her from head to toe. Her jacket was torn, her glasses gone, and the thief could see her arm, an impossible color, the one part of her that wasn’t burning.

            Emerald raised her revolvers far too slowly. Yang reached her before she could get more than halfway, and then she forgot them entirely when she hit her in the stomach. Emerald felt things break, more than just her Aura. She crashed into the snow again and forced herself to her feet. The pain intruded on her awareness, but she wasn’t incapacitated yet. Yang grinned, and Emerald saw her eyes for the first time. They were wrong, red and glowing, but before that could properly register Yang drew her fist back for the killing blow. Emerald let her muscles slacken. Nothing else to do.

            Cinder came out of nowhere, screaming her name. As Emerald went limp, Cinder crashed into her and threw her clear. Emerald stayed conscious long enough to see what happened next.

            Cinder stood her ground and stabbed at Yang with her blade. Yang grunted and seized Cinder’s left arm with her burning left one. Cinder’s armor flowed, armor plates automatically shifting to cover her arm. Yang hit her in the guts with her right arm, then squeezed with her left. Cinder’s Aura shattered. Yang’s fire licked up her arm. The Huntress sucked in a breath of air and breathed a stream of flame into Yang’s face. She laughed and stoked her Semblance higher. The reactive Dust armoring Cinder resisted for a moment, then caught fire. In a moment, the armor protecting Cinder’s arm was burning as only a Dust fire could, fast and bright.

            Cinder dropped her blades and scrabbled at her armor with her free hand. She choked and gagged on the noxious fumes of her burning armor. Yang dropped her arm, letting her fall. She rolled over, plunging her arm into the snow, and Yang grabbed her again, this time by the side of her face. With casual strength, she threw her through the air, towards the Grimm.

            Cinder landed, smoldering, and did not move. Emerald passed out.

 

            Blake grunted, trapped beneath the remains of the transport. She couldn’t focus on her powers with all the weight crushing her chest. She’d tried to form ice around the wreck to hold it in place and take the weight off her, but that was well beyond her at the moment. Her earpiece buzzed again.

_“Come on Blake, get up! Ironwood’s recovered, and the Grimm are retreating. You need to buy time for Yang. I can’t hold them off for long, not at this range.”_

            Blake panted. “I’m on my way,” she managed, then focused on escaping. It was like cramming herself through a far-too-small-opening, but she finally managed to blink away, leaving a shadow clone in her place.

            She reappeared in front of a handful of Huntsmen, led by Ironwood, advancing on Yang and Amber. They drew up short when they saw her.

            “Don’t move,” Blake snapped. “This will all be over soon.”

            Ironwood brought his revolver up. Ruby was faster with Crescent Rose, though, and the shot staggered him. She fired again, breaking what remained of his Aura. Blake trained Gambol Shroud on the General.

            “Everyone stand down, or I will shoot him again,” she threatened. Between the unseen sniper and the impossibly powerful assassin, the Huntsmen halted. They spread out, covering her, but did not advance. Ironwood panted for breath, trying to recover his Aura, but they both knew he couldn’t restore it fast enough to protect himself from a dedicated assault. Blake whispered to Ruby: “I’m almost drained. Yang needs to hurry up.”

 

            Yang turned her attention back towards Amber. This meant that the lightning bolt hit her in the chest, instead of the back. Amber stalked forward, one arm dead at her side. In the other, she held her staff. She summoned another bolt, blasting Yang back across the snow. Yang coughed and staggered. Her muscles didn’t respond properly, if at all, but she remained standing. Amber swayed on her feet, but also kept her footing. The two combatants squared off across a dozen meters of churned, stained snow.

            Ruby fired a low-powered round into Amber’s chest, shattering her Aura.

            Yang turned to Ruby’s general direction, raising her hands as if to say _What was that?_

            _“Just hurry, Yang!”_ Ruby reprimanded her.

            “Fine, fine,” Yang acquiesced. The parasite squirmed into her palm as she advanced on the fallen Maiden.

 

            Feathers rippled in the icy wind.

 

            Yang stood over Amber’s downed body. The Grimm snapped its mandibles together in anticipation.

 

            The bird swooped low, dropping into a steep dive.

 

            The parasite spat its connecting filaments. They sprayed across Amber’s face. She jolted awake.

 

            The bird pulled out of the dive, wings straining. It sped over the snow, then folded and altered.

 

             Yang sucked in a breath as the connection formed. She could feel the power of the Fall Maiden. All she needed to do was reach out and take it. Golden energy flowed up the strands.

 

            Qrow blurred between Yang and Amber, severing the connection and pulling Amber to safety. The severed filaments wavered for a moment, then smoked and dissolved. The energy flowed back down the fading strands to Amber, who promptly collapsed into Qrow’s arms. He eased her to the ground, then turned to face Yang, drawing his scythe.

            “That’s enough, kiddo,” Qrow growled.

            Yang watched the last of the strands fade into acrid smoke before she met his eyes. “You’ve gotten better with your timing, old man.”

            “You’re just as bullheaded as ever. You can’t have her.”

            “And you’re going to stop me?” Yang laughed.

            “I can see the way you’re holding yourself. You’ve got nothing left. Let it go, Yang. You can’t win this one.”

            Yang exhaled. “You might be right about that. That one girl did a number on me.” She chuckled. “You don’t think I did this alone, do you?” She jerked her chin towards the semicircle of Huntsmen facing off against Blake, then pointed over her shoulder in the direction of Ruby. “Either one of them can kick your ass, hands down. All I have to do is stall.”

            Qrow shook his head. “That’s funny. I was just about to say the same thing.”

            The first Bullhead appeared on the horizon. It was joined by another, then another, then ten more.

            “See, Glynda and Jimmy figured you were after Amity. They sent the students and every Huntsman who wasn’t carrying their weapons back to Atlas, so Amity could crash without more casualties. When I realized where Amity was going, I got them moving again. Atlas military is all tied up with false alarms and haywire systems, and the robots have completely shut down, but the Bullheads still work.”

            The Bullheads approached fast, roaring across the snow. Ruby opened fire on them, but Atlas built its Bullheads to last – it took three bullets to disable an engine, and the thin struts that connected the engines to the main body were deceptively durable – they took even longer to sever. As she shot the first Bullhead down, the doors of the other Bullheads slid open and the Huntsmen within unleashed a torrent of firepower at her position.

            Ruby dashed through the snow, repositioning in a heartbeat, but her speed kicked up a trail of snow leading straight to her new position. She alternated firing and dodging, but it was clear there was no way to disable even half of them in time.

            Qrow leaned in and spoke in a low whisper. “Take Blake and go. I won’t stop you.”

            Yang spat. “We killed Rime. Blake’s the new Winter Maiden. You still got here too late.”

            “Just go, Yang.”

            The brawler growled. She clenched her hands into fists. Qrow tightened his grip on his scythe. Yang tensed and prepared to lunge.

            Ruby’s voice crackled in her earpiece. “ _Time to go, everyone!_ ”

            “We can still make it!” Yang hissed. “I can take him!”

“ _That’s an order! We’ve got enough. Let it go.”_

            Yang and Qrow eyed each other for a long moment before Yang broke eye contact. She turned and ran for the edge of the Great Ice Cliff. Blake fled as well, erecting a wall of ice behind her to cover her retreat. In the distance, a streak of red zipped across the snow, rapidly approaching the Cliff. Qrow stood over Amber’s downed body as Ruby accelerated forwards. As she shot past Qrow, she extended Crescent Rose and slashed down at Amber. Qrow shifted his scythe to deflect the blow, and then she too was gone. The three of them disappeared over the edge of the Great Ice Cliff.

            Qrow let out a long breath. He fumbled his flask out of his pouch, took a swig, then bent down to check on Amber. His fingers wouldn’t stop shaking, but he found a strong pulse. He let out the breath he’d been holding.

            “Don’t scare me like that, kiddo,” he murmured.

 

            The first of the Bullheads touched down. Team Juniper were the first ones off. They ran forward, weapons at the ready.

            “There!” Ren called, and they converged on Mercury and Neo. The two of them, and an older red-haired man Ren didn’t recognize, were crouched around a fallen figure.

            Mercury lifted his head. “Medic!” he called. “Medic!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew. Bar none, I think that's the longest I've drawn out a confrontation. I tried to space it out across locations and opponents, but that was still quite a few chapters of action in one form or another. It'll be a tremendous relief to let things wind down next chapter. We're not quite done with Volume Three yet, but we're getting close now. I was toying with the idea of killing Roman, but ultimately that would have been darker than I wanted the story to go. As a result, his showdown with Adam had to be mostly cut, but there you go - If Adam had a proper confrontation with most of the cast at this point, they'd lose. Cinder's confrontation with Yang was another one of the scenes that I mapped out early on, once I saw her Volume Four self. Amber was another character who I was entertaining killing in this chapter, but I do have more plans for her, so she'll be sticking around. That's about it for now. See you next time for Volume Three's conclusion.


	14. Volume Three, Chapter Fourteen: After the Storm

Volume Three, Chapter Fourteen: After the Storm

 

            The first time Cinder was seriously hurt, she was seven. She climbed a tree to prove she could, pulling herself from branch to branch faster and further than any of the other children. When she realized she was the only one still climbing, she turned to look back at them, and missed her foothold. The branches slowed her fall, but she dropped the last eight feet through clear air.

            She remembered blinking dirt out of her eyes and seeing her left forearm bent _wrong_ , zig-zagged in the earth like she’d grown an extra joint. There was no pain, not yet. Cinder threw up then, not because of the pain, but because of the knowledge that she’d suffered a major injury. She knew without being told that her arm wouldn’t heal overnight if she applied a little salve. She understood that she was injured, far more severely than she’d ever experienced before.

            The memory blurred and smeared into another – Glynda talking to her in front of a long set of photographs. She was saying something important, but Cinder couldn’t focus on the lesson. Her left arm was growing colder and colder, like immersing it in a bucket of ice water, but it never went numb. It crossed the threshold into pain and Cinder pulled away from Glynda to plunge her arm into the snow. The snow was cold, but everything was warmer than her arm. Glynda reached down and grabbed her by the side of her face, hauling her to her feet. The cold spread, crawling across her face, and Cinder thrashed from side to side, but she couldn’t get away.

            The hand around her head tightened and hurled her through the air. The world spun around her and when it stopped, she was buried to her neck in snow. Cinder flicked her eyes down and saw a Grimm crouched by her right leg, eyes glowing a dull red. The world dimmed as she thrashed, until all she could see was the snow in a small circle around her and the Grimm by her leg. It lunged for her neck, jaw gaping far too wide –

            Cinder woke up properly. She was in a bed with white sheets in a darkened room. She glanced down. She was wearing a hospital gown, and an IV tube fed from her right arm to a bag of fluid by her head. Cinder turned her head to the left, then stopped halfway.

_The fire caught, then flared bright. It didn’t hurt, not yet, but she could feel the fire spreading up her arm._

            Cinder turned away. Surely, she didn’t need to face this just yet. Surely, she could rest a little longer.

            Something stirred at the foot of her bed. By then, her vision had adjusted enough to let her see Emerald, slumbering in a chair by her bed. Cinder let herself drift back to sleep.

 

            Mercury tiptoed down the corridor. He’d padded his feet, which made moving at speeds above than a fast walk a tricky proposition, but kept his footsteps all but silent. Ahead of him, Glynda and Amber turned a corner and approached Ironwood’s office. Amber’s arm was still in a sling, but she was moving under her own power, and Mercury suspected she was off painkillers at this point.

            Ironwood kept two guards in front of his office, now. Mercury strolled past them without glancing at the door. As soon as he was out of view, he removed and pocketed his padding and broke into a run. Atlas didn’t have much use for windows that opened, but he’d spent some time scouting the building. There was a skywalk that connected Atlas’ military administration to the kingdom’s bureaucracy.

            Plenty of Atlas citizens were still too afraid to leave their homes. The skywalk was empty, and the street below was just as clear. Without slowing down, Mercury jumped up and through the skywalk’s ceiling. It was reinforced – the two-meter square of transparent glass he struck popped out of its frame, instead of shattering. Mercury grabbed the edge of the square as he rose through the hole he created, keeping it from tumbling down to the ground below. He landed and spun around, hauling the glass back over the hole. With a stomp, he forced the glass back into the frame. It wouldn’t hold up to scrutiny, but it wouldn’t be immediately obvious what he’d done, either.

            There were guards on the roof, of course. Two Atlas security officers, patrolling around the perimeter, looking for trouble. They trusted long-range sensors to alert them about aerial threats, and they didn’t look up. Mercury launched himself into the air with his Semblance, easily clearing the rooftop. Another, more controlled use helped him land quietly.

            The roof was flat and clear of construction, making hiding near-impossible, but both the guards were looking out, not in. Mercury crossed from one edge to the other in a few, frantic seconds, and dropped into a slide as he reached the far edge of the rooftop.

            As he slid into empty space, he grabbed the edge of the rooftop, arresting his fall. He was directly above the edge of Ironwood’s office. The window that covered most of one wall was currently opaque, giving him no insight into the room’s occupants, but that wasn’t a problem. Mercury felt for the tiny seam connecting the window to the wall. Once he found it, he fixed his fingers in it and slid down, keeping one foot pressed to the window.

            When he reached the bottom, his foot popped into the window-floor seam and arrested his descent. He caught his breath, dangling in open air and suspended by three tenuous holds. Using his Aura to enhance his grip, Mercury reached to his belt with one hand and withdrew a stethoscope. He’d modified it with a music player and some tweaks from his toolkit. Mercury attached one earbud, then pressed the stethoscope to the window.

            Ironwood’s fancy window was thick and transmitted little noise, but the Dust it used to switch from opaque to transparent also made it more flexible, more able to transmit sound. With the music player to amplify what the stethoscope picked up, Mercury could hear tinny, distorted voices. This wasn’t a trick he’d learned from Marcus, but one he’d picked up on the streets.

            Ironwood was speaking. “Two dozen, approximately evenly distributed between Atlas soldiers and Huntsmen. I’ve spoken to the soldiers personally, and I can vouch for their discretion. They don’t understand the full import of what they saw, but they understand that it is classified.”

            “The Huntsmen are a more disparate bunch,” Glynda continued. “Still, they respect other Huntsmen and Huntresses. They will remain silent out of respect for Rime’s privacy, and her sacrifice.”

            “Still,” Ironwood said, “Whatever compromised our systems used the defense turrets as cameras. They shut down just before Rime arrived, for maximum impact, but they still caught Amber displaying her power. The cover story is that Atlas is experimenting with human enhancement technology. Amber’s powers were her Semblance, amplified and enhanced by Dust, genetic therapy, and cybernetic implants.”

            “Is that wise?” another voice asked. This one was further distorted, but Mercury recognized Professor Ozpin’s voice. He was transmitting from Beacon, then, explaining the distortion.

            “Atlas’ military is under a great deal of scrutiny at the moment,” Ironwood acknowledged. “We’ve clearly been compromised at a very high level, and we need to be held accountable for that. This will add fuel to the fire, but I don’t see another way of concealing the reality of Amber’s power.”

            “Thank you, James,” Ozpin said. “I understand how much this requires of you.”

            “Just make sure this is worth it, Ozpin,” Ironwood replied.

            “With the subversion of Atlas security, confidence in every kingdom’s military is at an all-time low,” Glynda added. “Grimm are responding to the panic in all four kingdoms, and Huntsmen are stretched thin resisting them. That said, I expect we will receive reduced oversight and increased discretion, as scrutiny shifts towards conventional militaries.”

            “How could anyone have planned this?” someone else asked. Amber.

            “What?” Ozpin asked.

            “You keep talking about this like it was all planned. The White Fang, the Grimm, the ambush on the Cliff. How could anyone bring all that together?”

            “I thought you told her-“ Ironwood began.

            “She knows about the Grimm,” Glynda said. “We had no idea this was possible, either. Our enemy has clearly been busy.”

            “Looking back, certain events become clear,” Ozpin said. “She has been planning this for decades, moving pieces into place. We must respond. Amber, I wish I did not have to ask so much of you, but the fact is, you are uniquely gifted. We need your help.”

            “I’m still trying to wrap my head around all this,” Amber said. “I’ll do what I can.”

 

            Mercury strained to listen. He tightened his grip and leaned closer to the wall. He was so focused on the conversation, he never noticed the bird until it had its talons in his hair. Mercury grunted, trying not to cry out, and swiped at the animal with the stethoscope. It flapped harder and loosened his grip on the wall. He could have held on, but just then, a soldier passed overhead and dislodged a clump of slush on the edge of the roof. The half-melted snow dropped onto his hand gripping the wall. He struggled to maintain his suddenly-lubricated grip and failed.

            Mercury plummeted, careful not to make a sound and alert the guard, or the conspirators in Ironwood’s office. He activated his Semblance, slowing his fall, and landed in a crouch outside the building. A second later, someone crashed into him from above, mashing his face into the snow. A hand grabbed him by the back of his jacket, holding him down.

            “I don’t think you’re supposed to be out here, are you?” Qrow asked.

            Mercury lunged forward through the snow, shucking his jacket. Qrow twitched his arm and wrapped Mercury’s jacket around his arms, binding them together and arresting Mercury’s run. His legs flew out from under him and he landed flat on his back.

            Qrow sighed. “You’re going to have to do better than that.” He peered at Mercury. “Do I know you?”

            Mercury snapped his foot up and kicked him in the nose.

            “Gah!” Qrow yelled. He let go of Mercury, who jumped to his feet and pulled his arms free. Qrow grabbed his shoulder, spun him around, and pressed Mercury into the side of the building, twisting one hand behind his back. “That’s _enough_ , kid. What do you think you’re doing?”

            “Looking for the bathroom,” Mercury quipped.

            “Everyone’s a comedian,” Qrow muttered. He noticed Mercury’s stethoscope and nudged at the device with one shoe. “What’ve we got here? Sneaky, aren’t you? What makes you think what’s going on in there is any of your business?”

            Mercury remained silent.

            Qrow shook his head. “Fine, you can be somebody else’s problem. I’m sure Jimmy would love the extra work.”

            “My teammates almost died doing your job for you,” Mercury snapped. “I think that makes it my business.”

            Qrow hauled Mercury away from the wall. “Would you care,” he asked, “to repeat that comment?”

            “I was busy with the Kraken Grimm,” Mercury said, “but I was watching my teammates, too. I saw Cinder and Emerald go down protecting Amber from that woman. Then you showed up at the last moment and saved her. If they hadn’t been there, you would have been too late.”

            “Cinder,” Qrow muttered. “That was the Huntress who…”

            “Nobody’s explained anything,” Mercury said. “Glynda told us that we should keep quiet about everything that happened for the good of the Huntsmen, the Kingdoms, and the woman who died repairing the Cliff, but that doesn’t tell us anything.” He squirmed in Qrow’s grip. “Cinder is unconscious in a hospital bed right now. Who did she fight? What’s going on?”

            Qrow let Mercury go. “You really haven’t been told anything, huh?”

            “Just to keep my mouth shut.”

            Qrow shook his head. “I swear. One of these days… You’re right. I wouldn’t have gotten to Amber in time if it hadn’t been for your teammates. They deserve to know what they got themselves into.”

            Mercury folded his arms. “Just like that?”

            “Don’t thank me just yet. Let me know when your leader wakes up. I’ll tell you what I can.”

 

            The next time Cinder awoke, she was surrounded by her teammates. Emerald and Neo sat on her right side. Mercury paced about by the foot of the bed. Neo was the first to notice her awakening. She nudged Emerald, then snapped her fingers, attracting Mercury’s attention.

            “There we go,” Mercury said. “You had us worried there, boss.”

            He grabbed a chair and moved to sit on her left, then changed direction halfway and sat at her right. With his free hand, he tapped a brief message into his Scroll. Cinder needed to turn her head to follow him as he moved. She lifted her hand to the left side of her face and found bandages. When she opened her mouth, all she could manage was a hoarse croak. Her throat burned.

            Mercury nodded. He reached over and grabbed the chart hanging at the front of her bed, but continued without glancing at it. “You breathed in some foul smoke, back there. Lots of Dust particles in the fumes. Not all the Dust was inert. The doctors don’t think there’ll be any permanent damage, but you won’t be talking for a while.” He paused. “The eye is a loss.”

            Cinder nodded. She hadn’t had many opportunities to practice her signing, but she was reasonably fluent at this point. _How long was I out?_ Cinder began, before she realized she was only moving her right arm. _How bad?_

            Neo and Emerald looked away. Mercury’s expression grew grimmer, but he continued. He still did not look down at the medical chart – he’d memorized its contents days before. “There was a lot of damage. Nerves and tissues. Aura can compensate for some of that, but not everything.”

_Tell me._

            “A full recovery will take years, and that’s with full therapy and Aura. Right now, you’ll have nearly no motion in your left arm or hand.”

            Cinder closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Emerald reached over and took her unburned hand. Cinder opened her eyes again.

            “To answer your other question,” Mercury said, “Amity was the day before yesterday. You didn’t miss much – reinforcements arrived and drove the attackers off. Everyone’s still shaken up. The Grimm are menacing the borders, but they’re being turned back by Huntsmen before they can reach any major cities.”

 _What happened?_ Cinder asked. _Who were those people?_

 _I recognized one of them,_ Neo contributed. _Blake Belladonna. She’s the leader of the White Fang._

            “The others, the brawler and the ice mage, we don’t know,” Mercury said. “The sniper could’ve been anyone with a sniper rifle and a speed Semblance. Officially, the whole thing is the White Fang’s fault.”

            Cinder nodded. _Are you hurt?_

_Nothing serious. Frostnip, some cuts and bruises._

            “About the same. Roman's okay, too. Broke his cane, but he's otherwise fine.”

            Cinder looked over at Emerald, who’d been uncharacteristically silent. Only then did Cinder realize Emerald was crying. Cinder tried to speak, failed, and squeezed her hand.

            “I’m so sorry, Cinder,” Emerald managed. “This is my fault. You told me to stay back, I ran in, and you almost died saving me.”

            Cinder shook her head and wheezed again. Signing would mean pulling away from Emerald. She glanced to Neo and Mercury for help. Mercury spread his hands in a ‘ _Me?’_ gesture, but stepped forward to try to help.

            “Well, I can’t say I was there for that bit,” someone else interrupted, “but for what it’s worth, you landed a better hit on her than anyone else did.” Qrow stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him. “If what I hear about how you made your entrance is true, you did that twice over on two very scary people. That’s to say nothing of how Amity didn’t explode, which would’ve ruined everybody’s day.”

            He nodded to the other occupants and joined them around Cinder’s bed.

            “The eggheads say that if those bombs hadn’t been disarmed, and if they crashed Amity the way they wanted to, it’d have made ten times the hole it did. What’s more, you saved Amber’s life, which matters more than you know,” he told Emerald, “and I never got the chance to thank you - all of you – for that. Things would have gotten a lot worse if you hadn’t stepped in. You don’t understand why yet, though, and I think you’re owed that much.”

            Cinder motioned for him to continue.

            “You’ve gotten yourselves involved in something way over your heads. I want to tell you to keep your heads down and stay out of trouble, but I think we both know how well that would go over. Instead, I’m going to tell you enough to make it clear why I think you should stay out of it. If you decide to ignore me, fine, you made your choice.” Qrow took a long drink from his flask. “Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

 

            The room was small and crammed with medical equipment. In the center stood a surgical table surrounded by bright lights and tables piled with medical equipment. A broad screen mounted on a wall displayed the patient’s vitals. The whole assembly was unpolished, with bare cables linking devices and unboxed supplies filling the corners of the room.

            Yang lay face-down on the table. Blake stood over her, stitching up the wounds Emerald inflicted – two long cuts down the length of her back. Ruby and Weiss watched the procedure from a corner of the room. Eventually, Blake straightened up. She stripped off her latex gloves and discarded them.

            “That’s all I can do,” she announced. “The wounds are deep but clean.”

            Yang sighed. “And?”

            “…And you’re exhibiting the same lack of healing we’ve seen before,” Blake admitted. “Your Aura isn’t repairing these injuries like it should.”

            Yang nodded. “Not much of a surprise anymore.” She rolled over and grabbed her top. “Guess I’ll be out of action for a little while,” she said, as she pulled it on.

            “These injuries run parallel to your spine, Yang,” Blake objected. “I’m concerned about the effects of replacement. What happens if you end up with a new spine?”

            “The SDC is looking into technology that could replace vertebrae,” Weiss added, “but that assumes we can remove your set safely. This is too risky.”

            “This was the deal, wasn’t it?” Yang asked. “As long as she’s focusing on me, she lets you all do your thing. We agreed it was better she only had her hooks in one of us.”

            “Weiss and Blake are right,” Ruby said. “This is too much. You can recover from this without her help.”

            “Yeah, and it’ll put me out of action for months! You need me out there.” Yang made to stand up and Blake pushed her back onto the bed.

            “There are no immediate problems to attend to or plans to carry out, Yang.”

            “After what we did, every day’s a crisis,” Yang replied. “Things are moving too fast for me to stay incapacitated, and you know it. Besides,” she flexed her right arm, “This thing has worked out pretty well so far.”

            “Yang…”

            “It’s gotta get done, sis. Better me than you.”

            “Blake,” Weiss asked, “Can you talk her out of this?”

            “You have been pretty quiet,” Yang said. “How’s the new power working out for you? Enjoying being a maiden again?”

            Blake turned away to sweep some used medical supplies into a trash bin. “It’s fine,” she said, “and you’re old enough to make your own choices. She’s right. We need to work fast, and we can’t afford to take Yang out of action for that long.”

            “And after?” Weiss asked. “What happens when we reach the endgame?”

             “Let’s worry about getting there first.”

            “Fine,” Weiss sighed. “I needed to contact her anyway. I’ll schedule your appointment.”

            Yang nodded. Weiss left the room and Blake went with her. They emerged into the Schnee family manor.

            “I need to get back to the White Fang,” Blake said. “We lost a lot of people in Atlas. They need reassurance that this will work out for the best.”

            “We’ve barely had a chance to sit down,” Weiss argued. “You don’t need to leave so soon. Besides, your new powers –“

            “I’ll learn them as I go. I’m more useful with the Fang than I am here.”

            “They’ll miss you,” Weiss said. “We all will.”

            The two of them walked in silence for a moment.

            “You shouldn’t.”

            “We do. You should stay. We’ve accomplished a great deal here. We can afford to take a few days to recover, before you go to the White Fang and Yang has her appointment.”

            They arrived at Weiss’ office. “You don’t need to jump back into things immediately. Think about it, okay?”

            Blake nodded. “Good luck in there.”

            “Yes, I suppose I’ll be needing it,” Weiss sighed. She smoothed down her dress. “I’ll see you…”

            “When you’re done.”

            “Thank you,” Weiss said, and opened the door. Blake vanished down the hallway.

 

            Weiss stepped into her office. She locked the door behind her, then turned to her desk. A Grimm Seer, one of Salem’s tentacled mouthpieces, floated behind her desk. She could see Salem’s face in its orb.

            “You’re avoiding me,” Salem began. “It’s been long enough. Give me your report.”

            “I had to coordinate with my teammates first,” Weiss replied. “Besides, I’ve recently received new information.”

            Salem made a short, sharp gesture. “Tell me about your mission. What happened?”

            Weiss nodded. “The first part went according to plan. We opened a breach in the Ice Cliff, and the Winter and Fall Maidens acted to defend it. Once they were both in the same area, we ambushed them.”

            “And?”

            “Ozpin brought more forces to bear than we anticipated,” Weiss continued. “Glynda, Ironwood, and even Qrow. We killed the Winter Maiden, but the Fall Maiden survived. We were able to wound her, however.”

            Salem sat forward. “And were you able to take the Winter Maiden’s power?”

            Weiss exhaled. “We were not. I’ve been investigating potential candidates-“

            The Seer shot forward and pressed one dagger-tipped tentacle to her eye. Weiss gasped.

            “Months of planning. Thousands of Grimm. Two Maidens dropped into your lap and you failed to secure either of them.”

            “The new Winter Maiden is weak and untrained, vulnerable,“ Weiss stammered.

            “You made the same promises about the new Fall Maiden, and yet she still lives. I gave you everything, Weiss Schnee. You would still be suffering in your father’s shadow if not for me. I raised you to power, and in return, you swore to serve me well.” Anger edged Salem’s voice as she continued. “Is this what you consider faithful service?”

            “The Grimm!” Weiss gasped. “The panic! The kingdoms are vulnerable. The Maidens will be forced to reveal themselves.”

            “The kingdoms survived their Great War, and the power of the Maidens remained out of reach. You struck a blow today, but do not imagine the kingdoms will topple so easily. No,” Salem sighed, “That’s just not good enough.”

            Weiss nodded as much as was possible without moving her eye. “What can I do to make this right?”

            Salem smiled. “I’m so glad you asked. Ozpin.”

            “Ozpin?” Weiss asked.

            “Ozpin. If you wish to lay the blame for your failures at his feet, then eliminate the problem. Kill him.”

            “We still lack the power of a Maiden,” Weiss objected. “How can we slay him?”

            “Figure it out, Weiss,” Salem purred. “Time is becoming a factor. I need him removed from play before I can proceed. I’d planned for you to bring the power of a Maiden to bear, yes, but it seems that that is impossible. Accomplish this however you wish, but do not fail me again.”

            The Seer withdrew its tentacle.

            “Yes, my Queen,” Weiss said, bowing low. “Yang was injured during the battle. She requests another appointment with you.”

            Salem nodded. “She’ll have it. Is that all?”

            “It is.”

            “Then go.”

            Weiss bolted for the exit. She burst through the door and out of sight of the Seer. As soon as she rounded the corner she came to a halt. Weiss grit her teeth and clenched her fists until her knuckles turned white. A hand landed on her shoulder, and she jumped.

            “How’d it go?” Yang asked.

            Weiss sighed. “She bought it. She’s angry, though. We need to accomplish something concrete for her, and soon.”

            “Sounds about right.” Yang nodded, then winced as the motion pulled at her stitches. “I should get ready for that appointment. Can you check in on Ruby?”

            “I can.”

            They parted ways. As Weiss reached the end of the corridor, Yang asked, “Hey, Weiss?”

            “Yes?”

            “Are we doing the right thing, here?”

            Weiss rested her head against the wall. “To be honest? I don’t know. I think it depends on whether or not this works.”

            “Yeah. I guess so.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap. Volume Three was as far as I planned, back when I first got the idea to write this. Hard to believe I started posting Volume One almost two years ago. This project's been a lot of fun, and I look forward to continuing it in Volume Four, but I do need to take some time to plan out more details, restore my buffer, and otherwise prepare. I don't quite know how long that will take, but I expect to begin posting before the new year.
> 
> Oh, and I finally noticed Volume Two was still marked as incomplete, so I fixed that. Whoops.


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